In Infinitum: First Contact
by Drake S. Hellion
Summary: In the year of 2581 the UNSC stumbles across a discovery hidden beneath their noses and now a new gateway to life outside of the Forerunner space is opened and with it comes all new challenges and rewards. Its time for First Contact. OC centric, Rated T for blood, language, violence and gore.
1. Prologue

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

_**Author Note**_

_**Alright, my dear readers and people who have followed the other story. I regret to inform you all that I will be deleting it and its chapters up until that point will be banished to the deepest recesses of my stories folder for all eternity. Why? Because I've lost all interest in writing for it. I have reread it, blinked at some of my choices and face palmed. So now, I deem it an eye sore and with my improved skittles, knowledge and the aid of both wikis, games and general know-how, I am going to be redoing In Infinitum and trying to rectify my many mistakes.**_

_**On that note. The first few changes will be that I will be posting this story, a smaller version to kick things off. The stories, assuming I make it that far, will be in three. (Bold promise, I know. Get it? Bold?…Anyways!) The first being In Infinitum: First Contact. This will cover how the Haloverse encounters the Citadel races. Not giving any real length on how many chapters this story will be, but it will begin with moments leading up first contact between the UNSC and Turians all the way through until the conflict is ended. **_

_**The second will be covering the events of Eden Prime, possibly the Collectors depending how I can fit them into the story line. The third will obviously cover the Reaper War. Now, all of that out of the way, here is to the prologue to the first story of the new series by myself. **_

_**In Infinitum: First Contact**_

_**Update Author Note: I feel I should now add this to the AN at the beginning. As some, rather... many, have pointed out. I do know the Relay is huge from Canon ME information and the Relay should have buried in Charon. But instead, I shoved it inside Pluto. To explain the reasoning behind these changes. I shall do so! First, the Relay size. I imagine it takes a lot of power to send ships from one point to another with the Relay system. And so, it has always bugged me how small the relay seems to be for this duty. Way I see it, they needed to be bigger, so they could contain the power core that sends the ships on a one way "second trip" across vast amounts of galaxy, so, yeah. made em bigger. Now, the reason for shoving the Relay inside Pluto. I did that because if it were a moon, I firmly believe Humanity would have found much earlier in its 200+ years of space faring life since most of the local systems would have mined for whatever materials it could be. So I needed a hiding place for the thing where I knew it would remain hidden... And I just wanted to 2012 Pluto. Righto!  
**_

**Prologue**

**September 21, 2581. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Sensor Station **_**Athena**_**, Sol System. 1300 Hours.  
**The blackness of space was always so daunting when one was alone in a computer filled room with nothing to look at by the screen filling with various, and unimportant, sensor data or the long slit of a viewing window into the deep black vacuum that was endless space. And for Ensign Henry Connors it was the second most boring posting that the UNSC could ever give someone during peace times, which it was. Almost thirty full years of peace had been good for the UNSC of course, but for the people like him who were once making decent pay for sitting around a station and keeping alert for Covenant? Not so much.

His pay check wasn't as impressive anymore, his hours were still murder and now it was boring. Especially since it was the Sol system, Earth was practically next door and they kept him here on this stupid station? Madness! But, he guessed it could be worse. He was still getting paid to literally sit on his ass and do nothing, it was his own fault he lacked any real entertainment to pass the hours.

He could hardly believe it really, it still seemed like only last week the UNSC and Covenant were at others throats trying to strangle each other. Now? Well, more or less it was still the same. Brutes had retreated into their own systems and as part of a "rehabilitation" project as they called it in the holovids, they were trying to uplift the damn things into something bigger than "Smash that, win this".

Waste of time if the Ensign ever heard one.

Though, he supposed the relations with the Jackals and Elites, or as they were to be called now for political and racial reasons, Kig-yar and Sangheili. The relations between these two and the UNSC was stable and prospering like a well oiled and maintained machine of economy. The birds had a natural talent for trading and their home system was rich minerals that both the UNSC and Sangheili needed to build a great number of things.

Kig-Yar, bless them birds, were quickly becoming the richest species in the neighbourhood and knew it. Henry remembered when he had been on leave on Earth and he had seen some Kig-Yar high-class citizens. They were pretty blinged up.

_Hah! Bling. Who says that anymore? _He thought himself, snickering.

Of course the times for the UNSC and Sangheili were fairly good. With the goods from the three of them fuelling their economic machines. The Big Three were rebuilding so quickly it almost seemed that they'd be seeing fat Kig-Yar and fifty new colonies within the next decade. But, with any growing lawn there were weeds.

The Covenant Loyalists, a small faction of mixed species who still bought the lies sown by the Prophets of the old Covenant were still a problem in the outer colonies of the Sangheili and Kig-Yar systems. Acting much like the Innies of today, terrorists who focused more on killing and recruiting.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.

Henry was about ready to just daze off for a couple hour nap when his terminal pinged. It _pinged_. A ping meant something out there was happening and it wasn't normal. He sat straight up, almost falling back over in his haste as he hastily moved his fingers over the keys while staring at the screen.

He had received a report from one of the probes. He clicked Enter on the file.

More data scrolled across his primary screen and the Ensign sat up. He blinked slightly, narrowing his eyes as an anomaly was detected by one of the sensor probes orbiting the various planets of the system, particularly Pluto. Apparently the Probe had performed a close sweep of the iceball and discovered a very surprising fact about it. There was Seismic activity on it.

"What?" Henry whispered, leaning closer and rereading.

That had to be a mistake. Pluto wasn't a planet, it was a giant, well, more so, massive ball of ice. No core, no shifting plates. The thing was just the galaxy's, as far as they knew, largest ice ball. So how did it have seismic activity? He stared at the report a moment longer then activated a Tight-Beam transmission to the probe and ordered a visual on the main viewing screen.

A moment later the connection came online and the ice ball appeared on the screen. It looked normal, but seismic activity couldn't seen from orbit. He wished the probe had deep thermal scanners or better observational equipment. He couldn't get much more from this.

He cut the connection, flagged the report and Tight-Beamed it to UNSC CentCom Station Atlas in orbit over Earth. Along with the following recommendation. "Seismic activity detected on Pluto. Probe checks out, no errors. Recommend closer inspection." The message sent and he sat back in his chair.

Just what the hell?

**September 21, 2581. Military Calendar.  
UNSC **_**Exploration**_**-Class Frigate **_**Eye of the Beholder**_**, Sol System. 2100 Hours.  
**Commander Nathan Massey sat back in his Captain's chair with a stern expression on his aging face as he and his small inspection group sped towards the ice ball that was Pluto. At forty-seven he already looked twenty years older, but anyone who gazed into his dark eyes would know that despite the old look he moved like a man three decades younger. Despite being a Navy Commander, he had once been a full blood Captain before a mistake during one of his shore leaves had resulted in him being kicked down to Commander and assigned to a out-of-the-way job as Captain of a ship designed to scope things out inside the Sol System.

Which was another way of saying that the UNSC didn't want him causing him more trouble. Not that he cared, he was still commanding a ship. Albeit an _Exploration _Class ship, but still a ship.

"Slow to cruise!" He ordered, voice full of authority.

"Aye, Commander." his Navigations officer replied. The _Eye of the Beholder _slowed as they neared the ice giant. "Destination reached, sir." Navigations reported.

"Good work," Nathan said, observing the iceball. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, then again. He wasn't the scientist. "Connect me to Doctor Asuka." He said, looking up at his central view station.

"Aye sir!"

The screen flickered, then the view of a pretty young redhead appeared on the screen. Her sharp green eyes stared at him as she adjusted her lab coat. "_Yes, Commander_?" she asked, tone polite.

"Ma'am, we've arrived. Get your people prepped to go to ground, We'll be in orbit here waiting to pick you all up once you've gotten your investigation out of the way." Nathan replied just as politely. It was no secret that Navy personnel and civilians didn't get along, especially when he was the babysitter and cab for say civvie and she some up and coming "star" in the science community.

It was a major headache waiting to happen. Nathan could just feel it.

"_Thank you, Commander._" Doctor Asuka replied, gesturing to someone offscreen before looking back at him. "_Will we have a security detail_?"

Nathan considered, then nodded. "A squad of marines should do. Nothing out of ordinary detected on the sensors. it's the Sol system, Doctor. We're secure." he waved a dismissive hand.

"_True_," she agreed with a small nod. "_But, the cautious are the most rewarded_." she grabbed a tablet, typed in something on it and said. "_My team and I will be ready and off in ten minutes. Good day, Commander_."

"Doctor." Nathan nodded. The screen closed, he sighed. "Damn civvies."

**UNSC **_**Eye of the Beholder**_**, Hanger bay.  
**Gunnery Sergeant William Buck wondered who he had managed to piss off to be put posted on a _Exploration_ Class Frigate when he should be on a more distant ship out in the outer colonies trying to get the last few pockets of the Insurrectionists cleaned out so that thorn in their side could stop digging deeper. But, that was not to be it seemed because he had been assigned to the Eye of the Beholder and now he was going to be leading the security detail for the eggheads being sent down to the iceball that was Pluto to scope out a possible seismic anomaly.

William didn't claim to be an expert on planet sized ice cubes, but when a coreless, plateless ball of ice suddenly started getting earthquakes, then maybe it was worth checking out if not for the science sakes. Least that was probably the reasoning that the UNSC was thinking since they sent only one ship to check it out.

He slapped on his helmet and checked his MA5D, he slid a magazine of Armor Piercing rounds and the ammo-counter flashed to a full and sweet 32. He racked the bolt and checked the other seven members of the security detail as they too loaded their MA5D and M6C sidearms. They were going down light, since no contact was expected and the security detail was more or less just a gesture of good will rather than a real necessity.

His helmet com crackled to life and the Commander's voice spoke into his ear. "_Sergeant. Your team ready_?"

William glanced at his team, they looked ready. "Yes sir, we're ready to get boots on ice. What about our team of eggheads?" he replied.

"_They'll be down shortly. Don't let them slip and sprain an ankle_."

William had to smile at that remark. "No promises sir." he said. And with that, the doors to the hanger opened and in marched a dozen people in airtight suits, holding various cases probably full of gear and reading equipment for whatever it is they were going to do down there. The leader of the group was the redheaded doctor he knew as Valerie Asuka.

She approached his team of marines, who were all suited up for vacuum in combat suits. "You ready?" she asked him.

"Five minutes ready now, ma'am." William replied with a nod. She nodded, told them to hop onto Pelican Two while she and her team rode down on Pelican One. "Yes, Ma'am." He rolled his eyes, civvies… you give them a job and they suddenly think they run the show. He turned to his team. "Piles into Pelican Two, double time!"

"Sir!" they chorused and rushed over into the hold of the second Pelican, which spun their engines up to prepare for lift off.

His team took their seats. He by the door, his second in command, a Sergeant Carl Holden. Bright young kid, only twenty-one and a sergeant, bright future in the Navy for kids like him. Bit brash through. A moment later, the Pelican shuddered as they were released into vacuum and then began to descend down groundside.

The ride was quiet and lasted only five minutes before they felt the tug of gravity, Pluto, while not a planet, had the mass for its gravitational field. The Pelican shuddered again, the pilots voice came over the com. "_Alright, touchdown. Please watch that first step, gets icy out there_!" there was a grin in the words.

The Gunny wondered how many Ice puns they're have to suffer during this trip. The ramp lowered. "Go! Go! Go!" He ordered his team. They shouldered their rifles and in two file lines stepped off the Pelican onto the ice laden ground, the temperature dropped could be felt through their suits and their internal systems increased the temperature to compensate. Their weapons swept the darkness, beside them, the second Pelican was also open and the science team stepped out, their helmets lighting with their own flashlights.

He opened a com to the doctor. "Ma'am, have your team stick close to ours." He turned to said team, "Ramirez, Vasquez. You two get to watch our asses." The pair nodded. "Tanner, you and Holden get the right side of the eggheads. Vickers and Boralis, you get left." The four accepted the orders, that left himself and York taking point. They moved over to the science team and together the twenty individuals moved across the darkened surface away from the Pelicans.

The small hike lasted four miles before finally, Asuka said to him. "This will do, Sergeant."

"Yes, ma'am." He replied, giving the hold signal with a fist. He scanned the area, they had descended into a large crater, the slope hadn't been steep, more like a slightly descent and now, they were at the bottom of it.

"Holden," William said. "Take Vickers and Vasquez and set up a perimeter around the camp."

"Sir!" Holden saluted, gestured to the other two and made off with them.

"Rest of you, help the eggheads set their gear up. Soon they get done, sooner we get back to the _Eye_." The Gunny said.

"Sir!"

And so, the Science team with the aid of the marines set their camp up in roughly ten minutes. Their air supply would last them five hours, four was their window. And as they finished setting up the last of the equipment, William would have wiped the sweat from his brow, but he was wearing a helmet and he didn't want to freeze to death, or choke, whichever came first here.

He stood on guard, MA5D held loosely in a relaxed position with its barrel to the ground. Flood lights had been set up to help visibility. The Pelicans were on standby, and up above? He could barely make out the _Eye of the Beholder_ in orbit, he smiled up at the ship and did a small wave.

One of the scientists suddenly called out. "Doctor! Come here!" William turned to the commotion and saw Doctor Asuka rushing over to her colleague and looking intently at the screen of his terminal. She stepped back, looking surprised, which for the normally stoic doctor was more amazed. William walked over.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She looked at him. "Its feint, but… there's a heat build-up in the ice." She replied, tone thoughtful. Her eyes were focused on some distant goal now, likely thinking over what that would mean. A heat build up? On a coreless ball of ice? Impossible.

William wasn't sure what this all meant, but it showed there was more to Pluto than met the eye. "What does that mean?"

"It means something is heating the ice up." Asuka turned to her colleague. "How deep did the scans detect the heat increase?" she asked now.

"Ten kilometres, maximum depth range." He paused, then said. "We'd need drilling equipment shipped down to get a deeper reading."

She nodded, considering the option. The Gunny stepped forward, "Ma'am, remember our window. To get a drilling set up down here would take most, if not all, of our four hour window." he informed her. "I suggest we get what we can now, then make a second trip."

"Noted." She dismissed him, still looking thoughtful.

That irked him, but he held his tongue. She was in charge, he offered his advice and his job was to ensure security, not fret over her decisions. He turned to his team, then his com crackled and it was Holden who spoke. "_Sir, perimeter swept, nothing. Its dead out here_." a pause. "_Making our way back now_."

"Right, good work." William replied. He moved away from the eggheads and opted to back to his original post. Then, there was a slightly tremor beneath his boots, making him blink and glance downwards, it was slightly, but he felt it. He looked to the others. "Anyone else feel that?" he asked.

Asuka looked at him, frowning. "Yes, Sergeant. I felt it too." the various scientists gave their assent that they felt it. "Johnson, get me a reading, what cause that?!" she called over to another of her team. The man hastily typed, then, he shrugged. He didn't know. "Then find out." she said.

He snapped to it.

William raised his foot, then stomped it once. He paused, then the tremor returned and this time it was more defined, some of the equipment clattered, he raised his weapon on instinct to the unknown situation. "What the hell?" he muttered.

"Find me a reason for this, Johnson." Asuka ordered,

"Working on it, Doctor!"

The tremor happened again, this time it lasted longer, two seconds the ice beneath their feet rumbled and in the distance a soft "snap" echoed out. The marines turned and raised their weapons, expecting… something. William included. He frowned.

"Doctor!" the first scientist called. "The heat build up, its increasing rapidly!" He reported. Asuka rushed over to his side again, ordering him to show her the data. He did so, "See? Its climbing!"

William frowned deeper. "Alright, I'm calling the Pelicans, Pack up your gear. We're dusting off as soon as Holden, Vasquez and Vickers returns." he said, raising a hand to his com. "Pelican Two and One, do you-"

The tremor turned into a ground terrible shudder, the ice beneath his feet groaned and in the distance, another loud snap was heard, it carried on for a mile. The ice shifted again and when he looked down the ice creaked, then with a hiss became littered in fractures. He stayed still, as if the tiniest step would shatter the very ground beneath him.

"Temperature spike! Its rising again!" The man stood, "Doctor, we have to go! The temperature rising as this rate could very well flash vaporize the center of Pluto!"

That seemed to make Asuka pause, then nod, "Save what equipment you can!" She ordered, turning to William. "Sergeant, tell your men to hurry, we have to go!"

"Ma'am!" William com'd his second in Command again. "Holden, double time, it now!" he barked.

"_Sir, on it sir! We're getting some weird tremors out here_!"

"I know! That's why you double time your ass here_, Now_!" The Gunny turned and ordered his men to help the eggheads gather their gear for the Pelicans. He looked at the ground, and then… five meters to right, the ground groaned loudly, then with a loud snap the ice split open with enough force that resulting tremor shook the team onto their asses, the "crack" grew, spread and the surrounding ice fragmented, falling into the growing chasm. And then, steam shot up into the air.

The ground around them grew unstable as large cracks formed around them. William stood, turned to them. "Go! Run!" he grabbed his rifle, then said. "Now!" forgetting the gear entirely, the marines and scientists broke into runs away from the chasm that continued to spread. They ran for all they were worth. He risked a glance over his shoulder.

The chasm was now easily over a mile long and growing wider as steam continued to hiss out like an angry huff of air. The ice around it cracked and fell down into the chasm… and then larger fragments, the ground began to collapse into the steam filled maw. He turned back ahead and spotted the other three he sent out. They ran alongside him. The group of twenty moved, but the eggheads were getting tired.

"Pelican one and two! We need immediate pick-up! Right now, activating our transponders!" William shouted into the com.

"_Roger, moving now. Be there in two minutes_."

"You got one!" The Gunnery Sergeant growled. And then, as if fate decided it didn't like them. Ahead by twenty five meters. Another crack hissed steam and expanded with explosive force, they stumbled, but didn't lose their footing this time… but they were cut off now. He grit his teeth as the piece of ice they were on began to subtly sink downwards.

The scientists began to panic, the marines? They held their tongues, looking to the air for the birds and silently praying. The Gunnery Sergeant looked around, a tremor tore ground again and to their left, the ice split open. They moved away from it as quickly as they could. "Come on… come on." William whispered.

"_Ground team, this is Pelican one. I see you, coming in now_!" to the east, two spotlights shined down on them. The two Pelicans descended downwards, their engines roar drowned out by the massive geysers of the steam around them. The first Pelican hovered down, opening its ramp. The scientists piled into it, the second hovered as well, its ramp lowered.

"Onto the bird, Marines! We're dusting off!" William shouted.

His marines stepped onto the second Pelican, then, the ground split again with another powerful hiss of steam… two feet behind him, the force of the blast was enough to send the pelican jerked up and forward, klaxons blared, the second lifted off hastily, knocking Doctor Asuka off the ramp and onto the ice, which began to tilt upwards, slanting the surface of the large fractured ice.

She screamed into the com she hit the ice and began to slide down, finding no holds to catch. William turned, seeing her, he grit his teeth. "Shit!" he dropped his MA5D and stepped back. "I'm going for her!"

"_What_?!" The pilot gasped.

William got a running start, and he leapt. He saw the ice coming, he hit it with a pained groan and began to slide downwards after her on his belly, turning around so he was facing down he slid like an armored penguin after her. "Doctor, try to slow your fall! kick the ice with your boot heals, try to dig in!" he spoke through the com.

"I'm trying!" she replied, obviously frightened, her arms flailed slightly, the gap into the chasm was fast approaching. He grit his teeth and used his hands to increase his speed. Soon, he was gaining.

Fifty seven meters and they'd be lost. He grit his teeth, she was a meter away, they were forty meters to death. She grew closer, then, he took her hand. "Hang on!" He shouted, rolling onto his back he drew his combat knife and with a jerk rammed it into the ice with a vice grip. The blade jerked, his shoulder popped and he cried out as the knife slid across the ice, leaving a shallow scar, slowing them, Thirty meters. "Pelican two, where the hell are you?!" he shouted into the com.

"_Right here_!" the Pelican descend edbeside them, overtaking them and the lowered ramp went down, scraping against the ice in front of them. William let the knife go and they slid onto the ramp, the marines pulled them inside and it closed. The Pelican lifted up and away from the surface.

Doctor Asuka panted, her chest rising and falling so rapidly he stared a moment, then his shoulder lanced with pain and he grit his teeth. "Shit!" he held it and looked to the others. They were all there. "What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular.

No one replied to him. Each strapping themselves in for the ride back to _Eye of the Beholder_. When they reached the Frigate, the Pelicans landed and the ramps lowered, the teams climbed out onto the hanger deck.

William stood, looking to Asuka. He offered her a hand, "Doctor." he said. She looked up at him, eyes still wild with adrenaline and fear, she nodded, took his hand and he lifted her up to her feet. They got off the Pelican, looking around as crews checked the damages to the birds, which looked fine.

"_Doctor Asuka to the bridge. Commander's orders_." The coms Officer's voice came over to the intercom system.

"Shall I escort you, doctor?" William asked, looking at her. She nodded, and they made their way to the bridge as quickly as they could walk. The reached the lift, walked down two halls and finally they reached the doors to the bridge. They paused at the doors when William realised something.

They were still holding hands.

"Sorry, ma'am," he said, untangling his hand from hers. She took hers back as well, their faces colored slightly. His tan complexion to her paler one. Blushing, they entered the bridge and William snapped off a salute to the Commander. "Commander, sir!"

The Commander didn't address him, instead just stared ahead at the viewing monitors. William and Asuka followed his gaze. Their eyes widened.

Pluto was on the screen. Across its surface chasms appeared and spread, fracturing entire large island sized chunk of ice across its surface as large geysers of steam filled the air around it, the piece broke up, swallowed by connected chasms soon after.

Before their eyes. Pluto broke apart.

**End of Prologue**

**Well, there it is. The prologue to the new In Infinitum. Now, be so kind as to leave some feedback in the form of a review and/or follow/fav! Questions? PM me or ask in a review and I shall answer. Same with suggestions. Now, I will not be posting any new chapters for awhile, i'm currently typing a few of them before I start posting them on a hopefully weekly basis so I don't suffer a lack of ideas or pressure. That said, thanks for reading.  
**


	2. Chapter one

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

_**Author Note: I was saving this chapter until a week had passed, but with the hit of 30 Reviews in less than said week I believe those who wanted to see this continue have earned the next chapter. So, here it is! Enjoy! Least I hope you do.**_

_**PS. 2012'd Pluto. Felt great.**_

**Chapter One**

**September 23, 2581. Military Calendar.  
UNSC **_**Marathon**_**-Class Cruiser **_**Hail Mary**_**, Sol System. 2000 Hours.  
**Within the two days of the anomaly and subsequent shattering of the ice giant known as Pluto. The UNSC had pulled its pants up and suited up for a possible conflict when the largest pieces of ice broke off and drifted off into the void, they had fired missiles, breaking them up further to reduce the risk of them hitting anything should they cross a planets path. Remote chances that one, but better safe than sorry. And after the larger pieces drifted the UNSC had sent in frigates and to tow and move the other pieces out of the way.

Why move them? Well, because something was putting off massive energy readings in the middle of that frozen debris field. It had been detected a day ago by the _Eye of the Beholder _which had been on station at the time with an investigation team to try and find out what the seismic anomaly had been. The resulting chaos that ensued no one could have predicted.

Pluto broke itself apart and now they were clearing the debris to see what exactly was hidden below the ice.

That was why the newly formed Battlegroup Mojave had been called out and assigned to oversee the clearing operation. Comprised of one _Marathon_-Class cruiser, a Heavy Destroyer, three Destroyers, A Supercarrier and five Frigates. In war time this would be considered a small force, but for peace times it was almost excessively large since the UNSC was still spread thin across its territory.

With barely a hundred fifty intact ships left in the wake of the Human/Covenant war, along with the fifty off damaged ones and the UNSC's severely decreased shipping yards. It was amazing the UNSC had the One thousand, three hundred and sixty or so ships they did already. They could have had more of course, but with the war over military production was put on the backburner in favor of re-colonization and terraforming of the old glassed worlds.

Spread that fleet out across a good hundred or so colonies and territory, suddenly that number was more insignificant then Rear Admiral Richard was willing to admit to himself or his crew. At seventy he had been around during the war and had seen planets glassed and billions dead, still, when the peace fell on them and the offer for retirement came forward to the Rear Admiral a year ago, he kindly declined and told them.

"I want to Captain my ship when I don't have to worry about extinction."

They had accepted that, handed him a medal and the _Hail Mary _for his service. Now he was head of Battlegroup Mojave. He watched the frigates tug more ice chunks away from the energy center until finally they got a visual. "Bout' damn time." He muttered, seeing a glint of blue in the field. "Helm. Get me a visual."

"Aye, Admiral."

The main screen flickered on and then, a soft blue hue in the center of the debris field. "Three times zoom." He said.

"Aye, sir."

The camera zoomed in to three times, and blue hue was more defined, and through the spots of debris he could see something. It was large, very large. "More Forerunner tech?" he muttered. It wouldn't surprise him to think that the Forerunners had buried something beneath ice and just let it all gather for years. But, somehow, he didn't think this was the case. _So, what could it be_? He thought to himself, entwining his fingers.

Ever since the Didact attack on Earth, the shield world Requiem had provided many Forerunner technological assets. Including the location of various other Forerunner temples and caches. With that, Humanity had jumped from the least technological advanced species to head of the top three species.

Kig-Yar came in second and the Sangheili Empire in third. Not a bad way to go about things, he supposed. He still felt bitter towards his former foes, but he wasn't one of those "anti-alien" extremists in the colonies and Earth who preached how Humanity should flip the bird at their allies. No, Richard wasn't stupid. He understood that together the three of the species had done more in the last thirty years than they could have done in a century alone.

Medical and military advances, it was a golden age. Sides the Covenant Loyalists and Innies prowling the border systems, but they could be excused. The Galaxy was in great shape for the moment.

And now this? Whatever it was, it would either be a blessing or another curse to set upon them when they thought they were safe again from the nightmares of the galaxy.

Two more debris chunks were moved, and there was a more clear view of the object. Richard leaned forward in his chair and stared at it hard. It was large, now he could see how large it was. It was easily twice as big as two _Infinity_-Class cruisers, and three as long. It was like two massive prongs that joined at the rear… or was it the front? And in the center was a glowing blue core that pulsed with energy. Which explained the readings they were picking up.

"Whoa," his Navigations Officer whispered. "That is one big… thingy."

"That's what she said," snickered his Operations Officer, stifling a chuckle with his hand.

"Cut the chatter," Richard cut in sharply as he leaned back into his Captain's chair. "Well, it's not shooting death rays, plasma or slugs. So, I'm going to say its automatically hostile." He said without joking. "Connect me to the _Eye of the Beholder_."

"Right away, Admiral." Coms replied. And in moments, he was staring at the face of Commander Massey.

"_Yes, Admiral_?" The Commander said, saluting briefly.

"You seeing this, Commander?" Richard asked as he stared back at the Commander.

"_Aye sir, I'm looking at it. Eggheads are chattering like school children about it_." Massey replied, sounding a bit annoyed. "_Want me to connect you to lead egghead_?"

"Please do." Richard nodded.

The screen changed and the lovely young face of Doctor Valerie Asuka appeared on his screen. Her eyes were darting over a tablet she held and behind her various other lab goers moved about, obviously working overtime on whatever the thing they were seeing was.

"_Yes, Admiral, what can I do for you_?" she asked without looking at him.

"Doctor. Anything you can tell me about whatever this is?" Richard was bit irked she didn't look at him, but he could let it slide. Her personality was one he was familiar with, she was smart and knew it and expected many things for herself. She was a regular Catherine Halsey in the making if he could guess her future.

She looked at him this time, taking a breath she spoke. "_Well, for one… its energy readings are off the charts. Its putting out more energy in that core than seven _Infinity_-Class cruisers could produce_." she said, rather awed, but her expression didn't shift. "_Second, while the core is putting out massive amounts of energy, it appears… dormant, somehow. There was three rings at it center around the core, they don't appear connected to the super structure itself, so… we can assume they should be doing something_."

Richard nodded with her assessment, he liked she worked fast, then again they likely had probes in the field now doing closer recon and getting more accurate data. "Anything else, Doctor?"

"_Well, its too early to tell, but… initial reports suggest its _not_ Forerunner._" She said, as if it were taboo.

He raised a brow. "Repeat that, Doctor?"

"_It's likely not Forerunner, in fact… I'm willing to bet my degree it isn't_." She replied, more firmly now, and just a tick more annoyed with him for having to repeat herself. "_Its design and shape don't match other known Forerunner structures, also the core is producing energy that we aren't familiar with. This could be very well the sign of another advanced species we haven't met yet_."

"Well," Richard frowned placed his hands on the arm rests of his command chair. "That's just lovely. So, what are we dealing with? Forerunner's grandparents?" he growled. The idea of another advanced alien race, if they were still around, wasn't something he liked to think about considering first contact for Humanity generally was a bad thing.

First contact with the Covenant? Glassed worlds. First contact with Forerunner? Digital ghosting. First Contact Flood? Possible galaxy wide biohazard.

"What's next? A race of sentient machines bent on Organic destruction? We haven't been attacked by giant robots yet." Richard muttered to himself, then looked back to the doctor. "Well, if those rings you spoke about are supposed to be doing something, what would they be doing?" he asked now.

"_I wouldn't know, there is still too little data. We'll need a few hours to collect more readings from the object,_" she said. "_With your permission, I'd like to take a Pelican to inspect the object at closer range when the debris field is further cleared, Admiral_."

Richard considered her request. He could allow it, but the risks involved here made him hesitant to grant that particular request, what if the thing activated and acted like a localized Halo ring? Or perhaps was some sort of ancient bomb, if it was producing the amount of power that Asuka told him it was, the battlegroup would be engulfed by an explosion akin to a dozen or so NOVA bombs. Not something Richard wanted to experience first hand. Still, they needed to know more about this thing.

"_Admiral_?"

"Permission granted," Richard said simply. "Just be careful."

"_Of course, Admiral_." the screen winked out.

The Rear Admiral stood, groaning softly and muttering "my back" as he moved to exit the bridge, "Wake me in six hours. Lieutenant Valentine, you have the bridge." he patted his Lieutenant on the shoulder once as he passed her, she saluted and he left the bridge to head back to his cabin. It would be another few hours before the debris field would be cleared enough for them to get more clear pictures and reading from the damn thing, so for now, he'd rest.

**September 23, 2581. Military Calendar.  
UNSC **_**Exploration**_**-Class Frigate **_**Eye of the Beholder**_**, Sol System. 0100 Hours.  
**It had taken the better part of five hours but the it appeared that debris field was no cleared enough that the eggheads could take a Pelican and go get a closer look at what had caused Pluto to break itself apart while they were still on it. Honestly? William almost considered asking the eggheads what was wrong with just leaving it there to collect space dust. But, it wasn't his place to question the brains while he was the brawn.

And Doctor Asuka had personally requested accompany them on the Pelican while they were off checking out the object at closer range in the bird. At first, William had been planning to decline, but there was something in the doctors eyes when she spoke to him, she had a slight tinge of fear in them and he understood why she wanted him along. He had saved her and so he was, for the moment, a security blanket.

_Hopefully we'll be under the blankets soon enough_, William thought slyly, he wasn't a shallow man but out in the cold depths of space you took pleasure where you found it. And Doctor Asuka was very easy on the eyes so if things took a turn for the better between them, then hoorah.

He proceeded down towards the hanger bay where they would be waiting. This time around it was just him as the lone marine and four eggheads as the science team. Hopefully this time had less danger and more eggheads doing something useful.

He didn't hold onto that hope long.

A pair of doors opened and he stepped into the hanger, the Pelican looked prepped and ready to go. He looked over the area and saw Asuka and her team were just getting their final preparations done as well. She saw him, nodded and gestured him over as she moved away from the group. He raised a brow, then followed after her.

Once they were away, he stood before her. "Yeah, doc?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was wearing basic marine garb, no airtight suit, just good ol combat BDUs for the ground fighting marine. She took lacked the suit and was in her lab clothing, a simple blue skirt that stopped just above her knees and hugged her hips nicely, a button up shirt, and white lab coat. not a button undone, perfectly dressed.

She was even more easy on the eyes now.

She looked at him, opened her mouth,,, then closed it, finally. She set her mouth into a firm line. "I wanted to thank you for saving me back on the last operation."

He blinked, then gave a small grin. "No problem, doc. It was my job, after all." he replied, uncrossing his arms and tilting his head. "You're welcome though, Doc. As a favor you can make sure not to fall down any ice slopes in the near future, alright?" he teased.

She stared, eyes narrowing slightly before she replied. "Noted, Sergeant." She stared a moment longer, then she cleared her throat. "Now, back to the business at hand." she turned and made her way back towards her team.

William watched her go, hey hips swayed just a tad more than he remembered. And as usual, he enjoyed the show she put on. "Hoorah," he whispered, following after her. They joined the others and soon they were loading onto the Pelican for the closer inspection of the object.

The Pelican's engines roared to life, The Hanger bay doors opened and they were off towards the object. All the while, William felt a knot forming in his stomach at the idea of possibly walking into yet another dangerous situation filled with unknowns, they didn't even have good intel so the saying "If you're going into hell, may as well go in with good intel." didn't apply either. So, FUBAR all around.

After a minute, the pilot's voice came over the com. "_Uh, doctor. We're getting… something weird on the com channels._" he said, sounding baffled.

"Which ones?" Asuka asked from her seat, frowning in thought.

"_All of em, ma'am_." The pilot responded. "_Trying to make sense of it… its weird_."

That made William frown too, okay, not even ten minutes into the inspection and already things were getting buggy.

"Could just be feedback from the energy core." One of the scientists suggested. Another agreed, the others held their peace, probably waiting for more information from the pilot.

"Could be," Asuka mumbled, raising a hand to her mouth and staring off in thought like she tended to do in such situations. "Perhaps we should attempt to reply to the com channels?" she said.

"_Ma'am, are you sure_?" The pilot was unsure about that and William didn't blame him.

"Do it," She bluntly replied.

A moment of silence, finally. The Pelican jerked left and caused the people in the bay to grip their straps and release various sounds of surprise, William himself grunting a small "whoa" as the Pelican settled again. "Pilot, the hell was that?" he asked.

"_Sorry, Sergeant. When I responded to the hails, the thing did something… its _still_ doing something_." The pilot responded. "_I'm moving off to a safe distance_."

"Let me into the cockpit, I want to see." Asuka unstrapped herself from her seat, William shook his head and said.

"Doctor, sit back down," she gave him a scathing look, and he returned it with a firm stare. "We're going back to a safe distance. You can observe from there, be patient." he continued to stare at her and she right back, eventually, she relented and sat back down, strapping herself back in and looking a bit miffed.

The Pelican accelerated, then decelerated and the pilot cleared her to enter the cockpit. She did so and what she saw made her pause to consider what the object was. The rings around the core of the object were now moving, the three of them shifting and spinning in opposing directions and the now the core was pulsing with energy spikes, as if it were a heartbeat. It was amazing, to be sure. For Asuka, this could mean a lot of things, but they'd need a closer look still to understand exactly what this thing was.

"It doesn't appear hostile," she said to herself, but the pilot spoke anyways.

"No, it doesn't, ma'am." he leaned forward slightly, staring intently. Finally, he said, "Should… I try to get closer?"

She nodded after a moment of thought. "Yes. Slowly though."

The pilot nodded, and the Pelican slowly accelerated towards the object at a crawl speed. Up close it was even more massive than she knew it to be, but from the cockpit of a pelican many of the UNSC's ships would be the same. As they drew closer, she thought she could hear the pulses of energy the core of the object gave off.

"Are the channels clear?" she asked.

The pilot checked, then nodded. "Yeah, they're clear now… weird."

That was weird, unless the object itself was sending the hail on any frequency it could find and when it received a reply the rings activated and now it was active… but active for what purpose was still unclear and that was why Asuka wanted to get a closer look. She was positive now this thing wasn't Forerunner. _So, who left it behind? _She thought.

They got closer.

The core pulsed, the wave passed them and before they could ask what was that a bolt of energy lashed out and gripped the Pelican, systems went haywire and the pilot began to work the controls, trying to pull away. "Come on girl! You can do it!" he tried to pull away as the energy held them, and slowly, they drifted closer to the object. "Come on!"

Asuka gripped the seats of the pilot and co-pilot, looking at the bolt that connect them to the object. "Can you do something!?" she asked.

"Trying, doc!" the pilot growled.

And then… the feeling of weightlessness, nausea and loss of balance. The stars themselves became streaks and the Pelican rumbled a moment, then! They were somewhere else entirely, coming to a jerking halt in which Asuka was thrown into the back of the seat and falling onto her back with a pained groan.

"Come on, Wes." The pilot said, glancing at his co-pilot. "Give me something. Where are we?"

"I dunno! Powers down, we're drifting… systems are dead, whatever that was, it burned us out." The co-pilot, Wes replied with a tone of irritation. "Trying to bring out bird back to life, give me a minute."

Asuka groaned, sitting up and then standing. She smoothed her skirt and peered outside the window and frowned. "Now… that is interesting," She said.

The pilots looked out and saw another one of the same objects. This one pointing back the way they came from, or so they though they came from. And it too pulsed with energy at its core. Asuka stared at it in thought.

So, if she was right this object was linked with the one they had been trying to inspect and when they neared it it had "shot" them to this one and judging by the fact power was down it probably killed the smaller crafts power cells. If that was the case, well, they would have to wait until the UNSC sent someone else through to retrieve them, if any. She hoped they would.

"How much air do we have in here?" she asked.

"An hour, two hours?" the pair shrugged.

"…Great." Asuka muttered.

**UNSC **_**Exploration**_**-Class Frigate **_**Eye of the Beholder.**_** 0150 Hours.  
**"What the hell was that!?" Commander Massey shouted as he watched the Pelican that the science team had taken to get a closer look at get sucked into the object and then disappeared in a blue stream so fast you almost assume the thing fired them off like a MAC round. Which it very damn well could have! He stared at it.

"Sir, orders?" Navigations looked at him.

The Commander considered his options. He had to know if they were alive, if so, where did they go? If not, he had to ensure he at least looked. Send a probe? No, too unreliable… he could always take the _Eye of the Beholder _and attempt whatever the hell had just happened. He weighed the options carefully, then ordered a connection to the _Hail Mary_.

A moment the screen was blank, then it snapped on and appeared Rear Admiral Richard. "_My bridge crew just showed me what happened, what is it_?"

"Admiral, sir. I want your clearance to approach the object and attempt to follow Pelican five-seven through, sir." Massey stated calmly.

The Rear Admiral blinked and frowned. "_Granted, if you don't return within the hour. I'll assume you didn't make it. Godspeed_." he saluted simply.

Massey knew the Admiral would agree to it. The Eye of the Beholder wasn't part of his group nor was it a tactically important ship, plus if this thing lead anywhere they would need to find out eventually so what better time than the present? That in mind. "Get us closer to the object! We're following after that Pelican!" he ordered.

A pause, then the bridge crew accepted the order.

The _Eye of the Beholder _moved towards the object and as they closed in, the pulsing energy grew brighter. And finally, when they were closer enough, the same bolt of energy lashed out, catching the Frigate, several more. Systems went haywire as the power surged through the ship. "How are we holding?" he asked, unflinching.

"Sir! Systems are going on and off, but we're still in acceptable levels!" Operations replied, eyes on her console. "Reactor at one hundred and fifty percent! Power building up!" she reported. "At this rate we'll overload it! We have to-" the feeling passed through the ship and with the blink on an eye they were somewhere else entirely. "vent… the reactor." she finished.

Massey stared out at the blackness of the space around them. "Systems check?"

"We're good, sir… reactor dropping back to seventy percent." Operations reported. "Minor overloads in small systems, but we are still space worthy. Key systems are intact."

"Good, scan for our wayward Pelican." he ordered, choosing to ignore the second object that was parked right next to their ship, he'd deal with that later. For now he had personnel in the black.

"Scanning, sir." Not a tick later. "Found them. Pelican is intact. Power is offline and its drifting."

"Lets go get our bird back," Massey replied, leaning back into his command chair and yawning. God he needed some sleep. The _Eye of the Beholder _moved towards the drifting Pelican. Soon enough, the Pelican was retrieved and its personnel were brought to the bridge where Massey was waiting for them.

They stepped into the bridge, he turned to them, "How was the ride?"

"Jarring, sir." Gunnery Sergeant William replied, cracking his neck. "Thanks for the quick rescue." he added, saluting.

"Don't mention it," Massey muttered and stared at the second object as it waited for something to be shot back. "Welp, bring us in, lets see if this thing works how I think it does." he said. "Full speed, bring us into jump space for that thing."

"Aye, sir!" Navigations wasn't as hesitant the second time around. The Frigate approached the device, then… a second shot and they were face first with the _Hail Mary_. Klaxons blared.

"Hard to port!" Massey shouted, the _Eye of the Beholder _moved left turned as it moved at the _Hail Mary_. The two ships scrapped against each other, the _Hail Mary_'s Hard-light shielding snapped into place while the Eye's hull screeched… and continued on with nothing more than a scratched paint and slightly drained shielding for both ships.

"Damn… that was close." Navigations said, chuckling a bit.

Massey didn't say anything.

"We're being hailed by the Hail Mary, sir." Communications reported.

"Patch em through." the Commander said, relieved.

And on the screen appeared the Rear Admiral, looking bored. "_Any particular reason why you kissed my ships nose, Commander_?" he asked as if this near miss between a Frigate and Cruiser were commonplace.

Massey shrugged. "I wasn't aware the object had a "drift" effect when ships travelled to and fro, sorry, Admiral. But, gotta say… this thing works pretty well."

"_To and fro_?" The Admiral raised his brows.

The Commander nodded. "Sir, there's two of them. This one connects to another at unknown coordinates, it appears to be a linked pair… able to send ships from one to the other within seconds." Massey explained, entwining his fingers before himself. "Plays hell with our electronics though."

The Rear Admiral was silent in thought as he stared at something off screen for a minute before he spoke again. "_I see, I'll report this to CentCom. They'll want to know about this. Good work, Commander_."

Massey nodded graciously. "Thank you, Admiral." the screen went out and the Commander sighed. "This is gonna be trouble… I just know it."

**End of Chapter one**

**There's chapter one, folks! Like? If so, you know what to do! **

**PS. As pointed out, I believe I overly nerfed the UNSC's ship capacity, so, I edited it a bit and put a higher number of colonies. Buuut, still not going too high with that second one. Too many colonies and I'll have to find a reason to make the galaxy bigger.  
**


	3. Chapter two

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Two**

**September 25, 2581. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Central Command Station **_**Atlas**_**, Sol System. 0400 Hours.  
**In high orbit over Earth, the cradle of Humanity and its birthplace millions of years prior. Now it was the most secure planets the UNSC had. The ODG, or Orbital Defense Grid, had been recreated and took form in the eighty Defense Platforms around the Earth, using micro bursts of thrusters to create a steadily shifting web of the latest super weapon tech known as Magnetic Plasma Cannon or MPC. Each station was outfitted with one of these long range, high precision cannons. Along with a secondary, smaller more conventional MAC gun as a backup while the MPC recharged and cooled between shots. An order for fifteen new stations was currently being met with the new ones being mounted with the newer Forward Particle Projector cannons.

With the threat of war gone, CentCom put a lot of effort into rebuilding the lost planets and getting their defenses back up to acceptable levels… for nine years, now it was all about rebuilding, trading and learning about the other species, promoting good will and advancement for all. Hell, the UNSC's attempt of the Rehabilitation of the Jiralhanae was a sign of this. A lot of Navy and Army forces would have been content to blast the beasts back to their homeworld and left them there to rot with the rest of the Prophets.

And after stripping them of their Slipspace and galactic travel capabilities the UNSC had done that for the better part of seven years. Then something changed, nobody knew what, but first it was Fleet Admiral Hood was announcing that in a gesture of good will towards the "forgotten" species left broken by the war, they were going to launch the "Jiralhanae Uplift" campaign on Doisac, the Jiralhanae homeworld.

The opening days of the program were, by UNSC reports, "Proceeding, but strained". It wasn't much of a surprise for that, Brutes weren't the most civil of beings so when tensions rose and they got snappy, humanity had to crack the whip. And they did, in a way. Instead of trying to uplift the entire race, they took in volunteers from the Brutes. Those who wanted to learn and live outside a world of religious massacre. And the few that joined in the initial stages had been older and younger brutes following the elders.

What had happened had been completely unexpected. It seemed elder Brutes were more clever and adaptable than their species gave them credit for. As they were quick to talk, slower to anger and certainly more patient than the average ape. The second colony established in the local system had been a success in the following years. Now, it was a Jiralhanae/Human/Sangheili mixed colony where humans and Sangheili attempted to teach the finer points of Martial strength in Peace times, about how to trade and negotiate.

Sure, the Brutes were still under house arrest in their own system, but it was slowly moving process to get them ready to rejoin the galactic species again as a fellow space faring race. Humanity was now trying to act like Teachers.

This was also evident by the last twenty years of teaching the Sangheili how to run their own house without scratching their heads at how to make the toilet flush. Civil war been a very real threat on Sanghelios and its colonies after the Didact war, but it had been slowly dying out and with humanity's aid the Sangheili could stand on their own now, still very martial but at least now the threat of a massive civil war wasn't looming over their heads. The Arbiter of Sanghelios kept a tight grip and watchful gaze for dissent.

But it was costly, very costly. Between the uplifting effort, terraforming operations across the glassed worlds and the buy of materials from both Sangheili and Kig-Yar species. Humanities repair bill must have been in the upper billions… maybe trillions. Only the bean counters in ONI probably knew the exact costs of everything that was going on in UNSC space.

And then came the discovery of the object inside Pluto, so far dubbed "Pluto Device" by some of the brass on the _Atlas_. The device itself was a mystery as any deep scans they tried to take from it were disrupted by whatever was powering the thing, so accurate and reliable scans were out of the question. They couldn't even accurately date the things age. Only that it was really, really old.

And now the Brass was stumped with what exactly to do with it since battle group Mojave had sent a ship through for some recon to check out the local system around the other device at the receiving end. They had found a single planet that had an atmosphere capable of supporting life and it did support life, there were indigenous species of various flora and fauna. A garden world ripe for the taking.

But not only that, they attempt communications with the fleet from across the Relay, They couldn't raise any UNSC, Sangheili or Kig-Yar frequencies. That Device had tossed a ship so far that there no known species presence in the system, at all. No signs of other intelligent life in the system sides the device itself.

It was all very exciting and that was why a meeting of the committee and UNSC brass had been called aboard the Super Station that was the Atlas.

A meeting that one Lieutenant Micheal Price was late to.

That was why he was power walking through the halls like a man on a mission to save the Earth. He was late by two minutes and he was sure he was going to receive some flack for it when he got there. He passed marines, scientists and engineers as he walked through the soft gray halls, overhead lights listing by as he moved along. You'd never guess by his tardiness that Micheal was actually a member of ONI Section III. But he was and a damn good spook at what he did, he was a liaison between the ONI headquarters on Reach and the Committee of Earth during such meetings, he was effectively the person who negotiated for ONI in these things, gave the opinion and views, safety and security and all that nice stuff ONI was known for.

He stopped at a lift, stepped inside and after a quick ride, stepped off and proceeded down another hallway. There, he spotted the doors that would lead him to the committee chamber. At the door sides were a pair of guards, each holding the latest issue MA5E rifles. And judging by the MJOLNIR Mark. VI [Gen 2] Variants they were wearing. They were Spartan-IVs.

Both bore the rank of Chief Petty Officer. The saw the Lieutenant, saluted and the one on the left spoke, voice muffled by the helmet. "Lieutenant, sir, they're waiting for you inside!" he turned, tapping a key. The doors opened and with a return salute, Micheal stepped past them and into the committee chamber.

Before him inside the circular room sat thirty individuals, chatting amongst themselves while it appeared they were waiting. Great, he was not only late but held up the meeting, he was definitely going to get flak for this.

A few heads to greet his entrance and he saluted crisply. "Sirs, sorry for the hold up." he said, moving to his assigned seat around the center of the room, a single large holoprojector sat. And it was then he noted that some of the most powerful ,if not the most powerful, people in the UNSC were in the room with him.

You had Admiral Terrance Hood seated off to the left, stooping in age but eyes still sharp as finely honed knives. He was no longer head of the UNSC, having stepped down and made way for Fleet Admiral Leonardo "Leon" Petrov to take his place as head of the UNSC a decade ago, Now Hood served more a highly respected mentor to the younger Fleet Admiral.

Leonardo himself was young for a Fleet Admiral, at only forty-five the man was a bit of a legend in his accomplishments navy boot camp, his service record was filled with citations well received praise for his actions against the Insurrectionist and Loyalist forces in the outer colonies fifteen years prior, he had graduated from the Navy academy with top honors and head of his class, promoted to Junior Lieutenant for it. Then when the innies started riling themselves up for more bombings against the UNSC Leon stepped up and impressed everyone with his seven total victories against the Loyalists in space combat, and five successful sweeps of Innie bases in hollowed out asteroids along certain systems. He had went from Junior Lieutenant to Captain in under two years for these efforts.

His jump to Fleet Admiral happened ten years ago when Hood personally stepped down and named that his successor would be, the then Rear Admiral, Leonardo Petrov. Since then, Hood had been acting as a mentor for the man and their decisions were fair and they were respected.

Hood was always a shrewd man when it came to such decisions and it seemed he was passing this skill onto Leon. Micheal was glad for it, their decisions had put the UNSC into a strong position and in good relations with the Sangheili and Kig-Yar at large. Even with the rumors surrounding Hoods involvement with the assassination of Admiral Parangosky in 2560 and the execution of the Black Operations team known only as "Kilo-Five".

That entire incident was denied by half of ONI while the other half hid beneath their desks while the flak started flying. Micheal remembered it well, more than a dozen people inside ONI were named for the involvement of a plot that had been sanctioned by Parangosky to attempt to cripple the then weakened Sangheili empire so that they could never threaten the UNSC again. Sound in practice, but it was morally messed.

And then, during a night on 2560, Parangosky didn't report in with the head of ONI, Serin Osman, and when she was found in her home with two shots to the head. ONI had scrambled to cover it up so fast that everyone noticed within a week. Shortly afterwords ONI head Serin Osman had gone under the radar.

Reports from there are sketchy at best, many had theories on what had transpired leading up to that and the execution of Kilo-Five. Micheal didn't care for it, that was years ago and the new head of ONI was far more agreeable in his opinion.

_Speaking of the head spook_. Micheal thought wryly, it seemed Head Spook wouldn't be here to see the meeting, instead it was just Lieutenant Commander McCarthy, another ONI Spook with Section III like Micheal. Then you had the civilian Committee members, sixteen in total. Two ONI officials, and twelve UNSC brass. That was the Committee.

It was a pain and overly large.

"Alright, take your seats and pay attention!" Leonardo called from his own seat, The man's dress uniform was spotless, his chest full of medals and his voice called for total dominance with a just a slight accent of Italian nature. When everyone was quieted down, he looked them over once and it was as if a weight passed over them under the careful gaze. "Alright, you've all been called here within the last five hours to discuss something that has been brought to our attention by the UNSC _Eye of the Beholder_."

He looked up. "Majestic, if you will?" he asked.

"Of course, Fleet Admiral." The holoprojector activated and before them a twelve foot tall angel appeared, the avatar of _Atlas_' Sixth Generation Smart AI. Majestic. The angels wings spread across the room, then folded behind it and the being disappeared. In its place was the object from Pluto. The objects three rings were spinning in a certain way opposing the others, it was kinda dizzying if one stared at it too long.

Majestic's voice rang out. "Initial scans put the object at Eight hundred and twenty meters in width. Twenty-two thousand, eleven hundred meters in length and height wise it is about one thousand and fifty-four." there was a pause. "Scaling now for a comparison."

The projector flickered and the object was placed beside the UNSC _Infinity_-Class Command Ship _Deadalus_. The result was that the object was easily the largest thing they had ever found floating in Z-gee that wasn't made by Forerunner, Covenant or Human hands, Of course if you compared it to High Charity and the Unyielding Hierophant built by the Covenant years ago during the great war and the Halo Rings the things size was about as impressive as setting an eraser next to a motorcycle. Not very.

But the fact no known faction constructed it made the object itself more interesting.

"Additionally," Majestic spoke again. "The object appears to act as a point-to-point transfer system, a pair being linked together to send ships to and fro themselves in a near instant manner. If the data readings from the _Eye of the Beholder _are correct." a pause, "I wish they had an AI onboard, I think the data would have been more accurate. Just my opinion."

Micheal could hear the shrug in the AI's words and inwardly chuckled at it. Majestic had a sense of emotion more common in Sixth Generation Smart AIs. It was increasingly human.

Fleet Admiral Leon spoke again. "Noted. Majestic." he said, humouring the AI on its subtle recommendation that the ship be outfitted with an AI. "Tell us of its make."

"Fleet Admiral," Majestic acknowledged. And the projector shifted again, this time to a chart of materials… the list was rather short. "These are the current materials we can find that make up the hull of the structure… again, readings are inconclusive due to the objects off power source and its natural toughness. The metal appears remarkably dense. General readings put it at seventy percent more dense then Titanium-A plating without affecting the structure of the material so much it doesn't becomes bone brittle."

"In laymen's terms, Majestic?" One of the civilian committee spoke up, frowning.

"It can take a hell of a beating from our conventional weapons. I imagine if you ordered Mojave to engage the object it would take a solid fifteen minutes before we broke its hull away with MAC and missile rounds." A pause, "I would not advise that as well, gentlemen. Energy readings place that sort of energy in that condensed form were to be released, though this is speculation. We could be looking at a near-super nova level of energy release."

That got a stir out of everyone, even Micheal was a little put off that something so dangerous was just sitting there in their home system. What was it? Could it be something else than a simple transport? A bomb of some kind? A weapon? All these questions swam in Micheal's head as he stared at the hologram of the object.

Majestic broke the thoughtfully cautious silence. "Moving on, when _Eye of the Beholder _itself made a… jump," the AI wasn't sure what to call it. "Though the Device, it came upon another. Their Pelican that had gotten caught in the first jump had lost power, apparently it kills smaller power sources. Including probes. But the Frigate made it through with just some minor overloads." another pause to let the committee absorb the information.

"What about the planet that Mojave found on the other side when they were cleared to make a mass jump through the device?" Terrance Hood asked, his own aging voice a rumble in the large room.

"They found several planets, Admiral. Five to be exact in orbit around the central star." A new image appeared, an overhead view of the large star at the other end of the device. Five planets appeared. "A garden world, the second planet from the star," said planet blinked on the overhead view and it zoomed in for a full color 3D model. "Probes launched by Battlegroup Mojave show human friendly biosphere, closer inspection by the UNSC Frigates _John Bars _and _War Hawk _revealed the atmosphere is very breathable and there is indigenous life. Planet appears to be made up of grasslands, mountain ranges in the upper north of the planet. The surface also sports a good sixtyty-seven percent water coverage. Further testing required but so far, it checks out as human safe." Majestic's Avatar reappeared. "In all, I'd give this planet a four out of five in the hospitable scale. It could be a bit cooler. But I guess you can't complain."

Micheal could already feel the mass opinion of the room as to what they were planning for the newly discovered Garden world that the UNSC had stumbled upon thanks to the Device in the Ice. Yes, that rhymed. They would all vote to have it colonized by the UNSC and likely the surrounding planets to be Terraformed so that other species, maybe the Sangheili and Kig-Yar would get a planet to themselves as a further sign of goodwill to the trading partners of the UNSC.

Micheal chose this time speak. "So, what are we gonna call our new colony?" he asked bluntly, he knew the choice they would make. It was a garden World on the doorstep of a new unexplored part of space, hell, once they map the stars of the sector they could start expanding outwards from there.

Half the committee gave him surprised looks, the other half just looked thoughtful of his question. To the surprised half he said, "Oh don't look at me like that, we all know we're going to make it a colony, so, what are we going to call it?" he asked again.

"Shanxi." Leon spoke up from his seat. "The Garden world will be called Shanxi. And the neighboring star will be known as Prometheus." There was no room for disagreement in his tone as he looked over the committee members, giving them each a simple stare.

"Shanxi colony in the Prometheus System." One aging civilian member said, stroking his grey beard. "Like Prometheus gave fire to man, this device… has given us a world?" he ventured.

Leonardo nodded an affirmative. That was his line of thought, besides. A new system to colonize deserved a grand name to go down in the history books afterall. Soon, the committee gave their mass assent, Micheal and McCarthy included gave their assent. So, their new colony, Shanxi of the Prometheus System.

But now, another issue needed to be addressed. A much more sensitive one.

And it was Admiral Terrance Hood who brought it to light. "Should we inform our allies of this discovery as well?" he asked, not bothering to elaborate on "allies", obviously meaning the Kig-Yar and Sangheili.

While it was true that the Kig-Yar, Sangheili and UNSC were prospering because of the three way trading circle they set up. It was a trade circle kept at arms length, even after two and half decades of peaceful coexistence with the Sangheili and Kig-Yar, tensions between the older civilian and military populations was still tense in sectors and in the higher branches. While there were a dozen "mixed" colonies where a pair or all three of them lived together, the inner and outer colonies still felt the bite of the great war.

And it showed, when one committee member from the civilian side said. "No, this is a UNSC matter and should stay that way, least for the moment."

The woman beside him disagreed, offering a daring proposal. "I say we terraform the two other planets, then once they're within acceptable range, offer them to the Sangheili and Kig-yar as a gesture of goodwill," she looked them over. "As a sign we wish to proceed forward _with _them. Not without."

"You take this "mantle" business too seriously, Sharon." The man grumbled beside her.

The other committee members showed their support for both sides of the suggestions, Hood and a majority of the Brass, including Leonardo, stayed silent. McCarthy and Micheal wisely stayed silent. Finally, Micheal nodded to McCarthy.

"We agree with miss Willis." Micheal said, gesturing to himself and McCarthy, who nodded beside him. "We establish a colony on Shanxi, then when it begins producing resources, we use a quarter of those resources to begin terraforming efforts on the other two planets furthest from the star to make them habitable for the Kig-Yar and Sangheili." he sat back down, feeling Hood and Leonardo's gaze on him, he stared right back.

Leonardo spoke and everyone quieted down at the sound of his voice. "I too agree with Miss Willis. If we are to uphold the Mantle, then we must eject our suspicion and old hatreds out the airlock and accept that Humanity has been given a duty by those who came before." Leonardo leaned forward and peered at Majestic. "I give my permission for this effort."

"I give mine." Micheal said.

"You got mine." McCarthy raised a hand.

"Mine too!" Willis smiled.

Soon, three quarters of the committee gave their assent to the effort that Shanxi would represent for Humanity, that they had seriously taken up the Mantle of Responsibility left to them by the Forerunner's before their destruction at the hands of their own last resort array that was the Halo weapons system. Micheal himself wasn't a "believer" in the Mantle. He found it impractical that a single species should govern the others simply because it had superior technology, and with the forerunner caches, they had vastly superior technology and now they were to use it and a moral high ground to "guide" the other species to betterment?

But it was because of the Mantle that they were even bothering with the Jiralhanae in the first place. Since the "cleansing" of ONI years ago, many inside the Spook central command had started to believe in the whole "Mantle", as the Forerunners were the closest things to Gods that humanity had. And it was those Gods that decreed that Humanity would be their successors to the great Mantle of Responsibility.

_And worms will spit acid, giant machines will attack and the Forerunners will have been given the Mantle by someone else before them_. Micheal thought, rolling his eyes and almost sighing. He couldn't deny the positive effect it had on the large portions of the fleet though. The idea to many that Humanity had been chosen by the Forerunners, the single most advanced species to come before them, to uphold the galaxy and see to its careful and prospering growth was both exciting and morally uplifting. It inspired many religious types start rethinking their ways, youngsters were already talking about enlisting because of the new motto.

"Enlist today, help uphold the Mantle."

Forerunners, even extinct they ran a good ad campaign it seemed. It gave a great many of humanity something to rally behind.

"Mojave will be on station to provide security for the new colony during colonization efforts," Leonardo went on to explain to the others, now that it had been agreed to go forward with colonization of Shanxi. It was time for the UNSC brass to start talking budgets and timelines. "we'll prepare three Colony ships to begin the colonization effort."

He paused, then said. "And get me a connection to the Sangheili Arbiter and Kig-Yar High Council. I'll brief them on our discovery and stance." he said, and the silent order to leave was followed, Micheal and the other committee members stepped outside the large room, marching down the hall towards the lift that would take them to VIP lounge to wait for the official word from Fleet Admiral Petrov.

Soon, Shanxi would be colonized and Humanity, along with its allies, would be moving forward into a brighter future together. And that was good for everyone. But Micheal had to wonder, did Humanity prosper because it was practical? Or because it was inspired merely by the idea of the "Mantle of Responsibility passed unto them by the Forerunners? It irked Micheal to think it was simply because they believed that being chosen by the Forerunners to uphold some ideal was why humanity suddenly to start playing fair.

"Humanity was lost, now it is found as its hands grasp the handles of our ancient mantle. As you must take responsibility for this mantle, so too must you bear responsibility for those in its shadow." McCarthy said beside him, reading Micheal's expression. "Still thinking about the Mantle business, huh?"

Micheal glared at him in exasperation. "Please, McCarthy, I hear that enough from my father and wife , I don't need you preaching this Mantle business too." He said, sighing loudly. He kept his voice low, no need to spark a debate in the hall about it.

"Sorry, Micheal. Just you get so worked up over nothing," McCarthy chuckled, shaking his head. "Mantle or not, Humanity is prospering and wants to share. Why stop it? Helps everyone, keeps the others off our backs and makes sure we have allies when shit gets tough. Who cares if its because we just want to, or if we're doing it for some ideal called," he air quoted. "The Mantle of Responsibility."

"Watch your mouth," Miss Willis said from behind them,. The dark haired, green eyed woman was glaring at McCarthy with zealousness. "The Mantle is a great gift and responsibility, we as Humanity should be honoured to have chosen for such a prestigious position as Custodians of the Galaxy. You'd do well to remember our new role in the galaxy." she marched past them, heels clicking as she walked.

Micheal sighed. "See? The Mantle has become a goddamn religion. You hear about it on Earth, the colonies… hell! Sangheili themselves are starting to treat humans with almost religious respect when they learned of the whole Mantle business!" he growled. "I just… don't want to believe that humanity is becoming… fair and just because we think we have a duty…"

"You want to believe we started being those because we were becoming "better" naturally without any outside influence side our own decisions?" McCarthy raised a brow. "Micheal. You're looking a gift horse in the mouth. Don't take any teeth, we're good, that's all that matters. Mantle or no." he patted his friend on the back, then grinned. "Now, lets get some beer. I have a feeling Petrov will be busy for awhile he speaks with the Sangheili and Kig-Yar."

"Yeah," Micheal relented, forcing a small smile. "Sure."

**End of Chapter Two**

**Yup, that's right people, the Mantle of Responsibility is going to play a big role in Humanity's decisions as the story progresses****! I shall elaborate further on that at a later date for now know it is a growing religion within Humanity and it has even touched some of the Covenant species, as also noted. Also, yes. I am ramming exposition down the reader's throats, sorry about that. Its just setting up an entire 30 years of change and progress is pretty tough without leaving a really long Author Note detailing it all, y'know? Anyways. G'night/day! **


	4. Chapter three

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Three**

_**Author Notes: Now, this next chapter i've had mixed feelings about for awhile, many a time has my finger hovered over the delete function with this in my folder, but, ultimately, after some editing I decided to post it up instead of getting right to FCW.**_

**January 10, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Colony Shanxi, Prometheus System. 1100 Hours.  
**Almost a full year had passed since the Discovery of the Pluto Device and the discovery of the garden world named Shanxi thanks to the Device and colonization efforts of the world had gone smoothly. It was now home to more than Two-hundred thousand civilians, a military presence of thirty thousand marine personnel groundside via seven UNSC military bases and training camps. It also boasted two shipyards since the planet was rich in valuable metals. One of the few planets rich in the materials to crate Titanium-A plating mounted on most UNSC ships. The grasslands were fertile and crops grew healthy year round, local flora and fauna was being studied around the clock. It was a paradise of peace and discovery.

In Orbit, the battlegroup Mojave was still stationed as the colony's defense force. Seven ships, since the Supercarrier and three Destroyers had been pulled back and reassigned to the recovering Outer Colonies again. To make up for the lessened fleet strength, the planet had been provided with Fifty Orbital Defense Platforms, same as the ones that orbited Earth. Each was armed with an MPC, 210 centimetres of Titanium-A armor plating and Hardlight Shield emitters. It also sported twenty four Point-defense Gatling guns and four triple Barrelled "Cerberus" laser cannons near the MPC's barrel base. Not to mention each platform had a Wing Division of forty Broadsword fighters. And twenty Sabre fighters per station. All in all, Shanxi was a heavily defended colony that the UNSC was not taking chances with.

The colony's richness was so vast that the UNSC was even having trouble with unauthorized smuggling of various materials off the planets surface. Not even a year and people were trying to smuggle stuff off the planet's surface. That had forced a bit more security in the transit hub for trading vessel inspections before and exiting Shanxi space. UNSC CentCom was already forwarding terraforming plans for the third and fourth planets from the sun so that they could be offered to the Sangheili and Kig-Yar as was proposed.

It just wasn't Shanxi however, terraforming efforts across the UNSC had been taking place before its discovery and in the past year the UNSC could safely say it had four more colonies, each working around the clock to provide a much welcomed economic boost to an already prospering UNSC and its Allies. It was a good time all around.

But with every good day there's always that one speck of dust that makes it into your eye and annoys you. In this case? The discovery of a second Device at the edges of the Prometheus system, this one too was dormant. The UNSC had decreed it a no fly zone and station four ships as sentries to monitor it. UNSC brass had been debating it about for three weeks now, most people didn't care about it, others saw it as another chance to expand further, and most wanted to ignore it until there was a firmer hold on Prometheus.

For now, it appeared the UNSC had adopted the "observe and wait" method against it.

**UNSC Colony Shanxi, Training Facility B11 "**_**New Hope**_**". 1100 Hours.  
**The staccato of weapons fire rumbled the air of the Training Facility New Hope followed by the voices of marine recruits as they fired off bursts from their MA6K rifles as they rushed from cover to cover as the automatic turrets pelted the area with their own volleys of stun rounds. Men and Women hit the deck and crawled into cover then the stun round impacted their legs and caused them to crumble. Shouts of covering fire and orders moved through the gunfire.

From an observation post above the training field. Captain Riley "Slate" MacMillan watched with crossed arms as the four dozen recruits moved across the field, leaving their cover to rescue their "wounded" comrades and drag them behind cover. His cool grey eyes moving over the various lot of them bogged down by the automatic turrets, which had a second feature that had been added four years ago.

One of the turrets raised its barrel, and a secondary barrel beneath the primary fired out with a loud bang, a grenade round arced over heir cover and exploded, tagging them five of the trainees in bright blue "kill paint", all five would have been dead had that been a real 30mm RDE. (Remote Detonation Explosive) fired by the Stick Detonators.

A ping sounded out and the five of them were marked on an overhead board as "Dead" along with twelve others.

MacMillan shook his head and turned away. Moving out of the observation post and down to the ground level where a Warthog was waiting for him. He grabbed his ODST helmet on the way out, holding it in his left hand while he hopped into the passenger seat where Second Lieutenant Marcus "Beef" Brant was sitting in the driver seat.

"Drive," MacMillan said.

The hog jerked forward as it accelerated and drove off towards east end of the facility where the VT Hanger was located. VT tech was using advanced Forerunner tech to literally create real environments using Hardlight technology. This allowed for a wider range of training exercises inside a single building. This technology was very expensive and only available to the Special Forces branch of the UNSC. As such, only SPARTANs and ODSTs got access to it.

And for today, MacMillan had it reserved to test his squads new recruit. A Corporal John "Shepard" Price. His Service Record appeared on a tablet that MacMillan took from the Hog's storage compartment. The boy was barely out of selection at twenty-two. His accuracy ratings were above average and he was smart, showed an aptitude for a wide range of skills and was picked out as a potential SPARTAN-IV candidate, instead had chosen to become an ODST and join the 22nd ODST Regiment when he was a Lance Corporal.

Also came from a military family. Dad's a Lieutenant in the Office of Naval Intelligence and his mother is a Lieutenant, junior grade, serving as a Coms officer aboard the UNSC Destroyer _Far Away_ deployed to the Outer Colonies. His record was spotless, high grades pre-enlistment as well. _All in all, a damn gold mine of potential._ MacMillan thought, setting the tablet down.

That was why he had chosen John to be drafted onto his squad the moment he cleared Orbital Drop Shock Trooper training on Jericho VII and had him shipped out here to Shanxi as an assignment with MacMillian's ODST team, callsign "Delta-7".

Marcus pulled up next to the hanger. MacMillan stepped out and saw the rest of his team gathered outside, four of them. From left to right you Corporals Jennifer "Sharps" Holland and Gerald "Ares" Williams. Next was Sergeant Gary "Wrecker" Sanderson. And the last of them? Corporal John "Shepard" Price.

"Take it easy on him, sir," Marcus said from his while MacMillan slid his helmet onto his head. "It's his first day on the Regiment."

"Right," MacMillan's voice was muffled by the helmet as his visor polarized and obscured his face.

Gary snapped off a salute. "Captain MacMillan, sir!" His shout alerted the rest of them to his presence, apparently they had been chatting animatedly if they didn't notice a bloody warthog drive up to them. Suppose he couldn't blame them, not much for an ODST to do out here than train, eat, sleep and train some more.

The other snapped off salutes and MacMillan walked up to John, scrutinizing him. "What the hell kinda callsign is Shepard?" it was a rhetorical question. "How'd a kid like you pass selection?" he added, more distastefully. From his unpolarized visor John didn't show any disheartenment from his words. Good, kid could take a verbal beating from his superior without flinching. "Well, fine. Alright, Price… time to see if your test scores were a sign of skill and not just for your bad looks. I've taken the liberty of barrowing two squads of recruits from the local staff and you're gonna take a brief case from the second level and in under four minutes." he gestured them inside. "Am I clear?"

"Crystal clear, sir," John replied.

John stepped past the Captain and into the hanger, which had taken the form of a two storey building, the first floor being comprise of three rooms, a long hall and a stairwell to the second floor, which was made up of four rooms. Each level had a window or two for extra entry and firing points. And spread out amongst the rooms were twenty marine recruits, each armed with a pair of KP grenades and MA6Ks. Along with the standard issue Marine Corps BDUs. Five were on outer patrol around the area. They didn't see or hear the team of ODSTs enter. The VT hanger itself was twenty by twenty-five meters in length and width, and fifteen meters high. It offered ample space. The VT field itself was Seventeen by twenty meters large. The free space was used for observation and holographic hardlight projectors to add color and sounds to the environment.

Truly a work of art if MacMillan could say so himself.

The grass beneath their face was emulated in their helmets via their coms, the soft breeze of wind was from the air fans inside the hanger, the lighting overhead even provided the "heat" that the sun would in this particular setting. Inside they'd be hearing their boots clatter against the metallic floor paneling.

"_Shepard, move down to the starting point. I'd like to run through some quick drills to make sure they taught you the basics while they were teaching you to kill every living thing with a paper clip and slingshot._" The Captain said through the com.

"Sir," John moved down the lane to the side towards a table, on it were a standard issue MA6K and M6H Magnum. three spare magazines for both weapons.

The Misriah MA6K was based off the earlier MA5K Assault rifles issued to Special Forces. However, several changes had been implemented to increase its effectiveness. Since it wasn't a mass produced weapon like the MA5 series, the MA6K got some top of the line gear included in its construction. It fired 8.24x45mm Armor Piercing rounds from a 30 round magazine. Its design was bullpup, meaning the magazine was behind the trigger and bolt. The ejection port was near the front of the rifle. It also featured the standard "carrying" rail of the MA5K. Allowing the mounting of various optics. The barrel could be changed out for shorter or longer variants. Suppressors could also be mounted.

John picked it up, shouldered the weapon and then grabbed one of the Stun round magazines. Slid it into the feeder and with a click the weapon's systems activated. The ammo counter read 32. And the currently mounted 1x RedDot sight activated as well. That done, he attached the magazines to his waist via magnetic clamps. He pulled the bolt back, chambering a round. It was ready.

He grabbed the M6H, attaching that to his left hip after he loaded and cocked it. The magazines joined the others at his waist. He waited for instructions.

"_Right, Shepard. Now, before we begin the actual test, lets run a refresher course by you._" MacMillan's voice ran though the com. "_First, shoulder your rifle_."

John did so, putting the butt of the rifle into his shoulder he lifted it up and polarized his visor. His HUD activated and the weapon's targeting reticule lit up, shifting with the slight sway of the weapon itself. He peered down into the red dot…and the HUD shifted to a single red dot instead of half-an-inch wide circle.

"_You see that? Remember, you're an ODST now. Not a marine. You don't have the luxury of spraying everything down range with your reticule. Most of our guns are loaded with Red Dot sights or Scopes. All are smart linked_." MacMillan explained into his ear. "_Meaning you just incline your head a bit more and line your sight up with the scope or sight and your HUD changes accordingly. With the dot sight you have now, wherever that dot is, anything between you and ten meters out is getting shot with near pinpoint accuracy. Remember that when you think firing from the hip is a good idea_."

John frowned a bit, he knew all that. Smart linked weapons and HUDs had been around for awhile now and its technology was always being improved upon, but it was always the same in use. Weapons linked to HUD, gave the user a general location of where the rounds would be flying. Hence the targeting Reticule. Smart linked optics like scopes did the same thing, just for added accuracy.

"Understood, Captain." John said.

"_Now, when your out of ammo in a firefight and your position is being pressed, don't bother to reload if you know you don't got time_." MacMillan went on. "_Now for example. Switch to your M6._"

John released the grip of the MA6K and with one hand still on its forward hand guard pulled the rifle up and onto his back where he attached it to some magnetic clamp. At the same time his free hand reached down to his hip and gripped the M6H, bringing it up in time to meet his other hand to hold it properly. The HUD changed the targeting reticule accordingly. The handgun was more accuracy, now it a quarter of an inch circle.

"_See how fast that was compared to ejecting a mag and grabbing a new one_?" MacMillan asked, seeming satisfied. "_Always keep that in mind, Shepard. Switching to your sidearm is always faster than reloading, might just save your life someday_." A chuckle. "_Now, switch back to your rifle_."

John did so.

"_Good lad, there's an even faster method then switching to your sidearm in a pinch. Your ODST armor is equipped with a Hardlight blade above your left wrist. Make a fist and swing if as if for a punch._" A pause, "_Lean your first slightly downwards too, its set to training mode so it won't hurt the poor sods in the test area_."

John slammed his right fist forward, tilting his fist ever slightly downward… and with a small "snap" the Hardlight blade, a soft blue. Was brought to life. At six and half inches. The blade was made of hardlight and was harder then conventional metal for its thin and sharp profile. Made from Forerunner tech, he didn't expect less from it.

"_Perfect, right. Think I've wasted your time enough. Prepare to take the test. Remember, four minutes. You don't get that case in that time or you get killed, you can kiss ODST goodbye and its back to boot for you_." The Captain stated, sounding dead serious and John didn't doubt he was. "_As a side note, Gary holds the current squad record at one minute, fifteen seconds, you top his time. I'll buy the team a round_."

John smiled behind his visor. Rounds for the team if he passed this with a new time? Almost sounded worth the extra effort to impress his new team if he wanted to make a good first impression. _Alright, here I go. Time to show off what nine months of ODST boot does to a man._ He thought, cracking his neck and shouldering his rifle. And he waited for the signal by the door.

"_Go_!" The com crackled.

The doors parted. John sprinted forward, he came out left of the structure and two of the marines on patrol were just turning the corner to make their rounds. They spotted him, moving to raise their rifles.

John was faster. He fired off a pair of bursts, the rounds impacted their chests and knocked them to the ground, they were KIA. He turned forward, saw a window and with two more bursts as one of the marines inside the building peered through to check out the commotion, only to be greeted by the five rounds to the body. He fell back in a heap.

With a pump of his legs he pushed up and into the building itself, landing inside one of the smaller first floor rooms. He glanced around quickly, heard footsteps to the doorway on his right and he snapped his rifle up, firing two rounds as a marine cleared the corner. He was downed, a second volley took down the second.

Hearing another set of steps behind. John pushed forward out into the hall over the two "bodies" as the third patrolman from the hall stepped into the room behind him, firing off a prolonged burst of rounds which peppered the wall beside the doorway John just disappeared through.

In the Observational Post above the area. The rest of Delta-7 watched John's progress. "Kid's fast, I'll give him that." MacMillan said, crossing his arms and watching intently. "Accuracy is good too."

"Reaction time too," Marcus put in, nodding beside him.

The team watched as John stepped into the room across the hall from the first he entered from, one of the marines raised their rifle to fire, in the time it took him to register it was John in ODST armor, the Corporal fired a burst into his chest, knocking him down and moving up the stairwell, only to stop when two of the marines fired suppressing fire,

A third tossed a KP grenade down the stairs while his friends gave suppressing fire. John surprised the team by lashing his boot out and kicked the grenade back up the steps, he ducked as it detonated at the top of the stairs. Splattering the three hostiles, clearing them.

"Hah!" Gary laughed, amused. "Now that's one return-to-sender I can appreciate."

"Its reckless." Jennifer waved her hand. "A number of things are wrong with that kind of move." As the teams designated Marksman, she was trained for precision.

"Nah," Gary said, shaking his head. "In that situation. He either _tried _something, or died. Not much place to hide from a grenade in those quarters." he pointed out. She had to agree with him there.

"What's his time?" MacMillan asked without looking away from the screen.

John moved up the stairs, diving out into the hall onto his side and firing at the two down the hall from his position, their opening bursts spraying the wall down to his position before he downed them, had he been standing they would have tagged him.

"Fifty-six seconds." Marcus replied simply.

"It's gonna be close," Gary grinned, crossing his arms now.

They watched as John moved over to the bodies, grabbed a pair of KP grenades and then took the brief case by the handle. He looked to the window, then to the grenades. He pulled their pins, tossed them into the hall and as they detonated, fired out the window and shattered it. Using the sounds of the dual detonation to mask the noise.

He jumped out of the second storey window, rifle in one hand, case in the other. Inside, the other marines scrabmled up the stairs to try and find him. He sprinted for the finish. He cleared it and the timer stopped.

"Time?"

Marcus chuckled. "One minute, four seconds." He turned to MacMillan. "Shepard's got talent."

Gary laughed, grinning behind his own visor. "I knew the kid could topple my record, he had that look in his eyes. That… feeling, the drive to succeed…" he said, sounding wistful. "Kinda like me back in high school."

Jennifer held her peace, but the look in her posture said she was impressed as the rest of the team. Gerald, who had been silent the whole time merely nodded. It was official, John "Shepard" Price was joining Delta-7.

"Riley, go down and give Shepard the good news." Marcus said, patting his superior on the back and that earned him a small glare before MacMillan turned and proceeded down the stairway towards the finish point.

John was waiting for him, case on the table along with his remaining gear. When he spotted Macmillan he saluted. "Captain, sir!"

The Captain shook his head and held out his hand. "Drop the salute, you're part of my team now, Shepard." he said dismissively, just slightly aggressive. When John dropped the salute and after a bit of hesitation, reached out and took the Captain's hand. They shook and MacMillan said. "Welcome to Delta seven, Shepard." MacMillan unpolarized. "I expect great things from you."

"Captain," Shepard smiled behind his own, now unpolarized, visor. "I'll try not to disappoint."

"Good man, now, I think I owe you and the other some drinks."

"_Attention all UNSC personnel_." The intercom blared overhead, causing the ODSTs to look upwards as the large viewing screen activated and showed the face of Admiral Terrance Hood. He was stern faced as he stared at the camera, and in doing so, the audience. "_As of two hours ago the UNSC committee came to a decision to activate and travel through the Prometheus Two Device with an exploratory fleet of five ships to check the next linked system for possible other garden worlds_." he explained. "_Heading up this small fleet is Captain Victor Wallace of the Destroyer _Far Away_, along with the Heavy Frigates _Massachusetts_, _Lancer _and_ Final Say_. And the Exploration Frigate _Eye of the Beholder."

That was surprising. Well, after debating about it for three weeks they had to reach the decision sooner or later. So MacMillan wasn't that surprised. He looked to John, who was staring at the screen with rapt attention, likely because the _Far Away_ was the ship his mother was serving on. Probably hoping to see her before she jumped through, or after, during her shore leave.

"_The Exploration fleet will activate and travel through the Device at eighteen hundred hours tomorrow_." Hood nodded and the screen winked off.

"Well," The Captain said, looking at Shepard. "Guess the team gets to meet your mum."

"Yeah," Shepard may have shrugged, but his voice was noticeably brighter. "Guess so."

**End of Chapter Three**

**There it is, Chapter Three! And can you feeeeel the buildup for Turian contact? CAN YOU?! I hope you can, I'm practically jabbing you all in the side with it… Anyways, You know the drill, comments, questions and concerns? Review or PM em! Also, big shoutout to Modern Warfare in this chapter. G'night/day!**


	5. Chapter four

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Four**

**January 11, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Destroyer-Class **_**Far Away**_**, Prometheus System. 1700 Hours**.  
The _Far Away _was a new ship, having only stepped off the production line in 2574 and has since then only seen three combat scenarios in the outer colonies and for all three tours it had never once been damaged by the enemy. While the other Frigates and _Exploration_-Class ships within the small exploratory fleet were "outdated" in technological standards, since each one was a survivor of the Human-Covenant War. That didn't make them any less threatening while it was true they didn't get any of the newer toys that the _Far Away _did, the advances in technology brought on the Forerunner technology caches has allowed for vastly superior internal components such as computing systems refits, brand new Fusion-Reactors allowed faster recharging of the MAC cannons aboard the vessels, engine refits increased propulsion speed and as of 2575 all UNSC craft of Strident-Class Frigate or higher put into service after the year 2560 were all undergoing refits for these small, but welcomed benefits.

However, being a newer ship, the _Far Away_ was leagues ahead of the other older ships inside the UNSC fleet. At 722 Meters in length, 440 in width and 478 meters tall. It was a big ship by Destroyer standards. It was also state-of-the-art. While most UNSC ships loaded with Forerunner or refined Covenant tech were just upgraded, the Far Away was made from the stuff. The ship was second only to _Infinity_-Class Cruisers _Infinity _and _Daedalus_ in the "most advanced ship" award. And even then, the _Far Away _could probably give the "trial" ship _Infinity_ a run for its money.

While other UNSC ships sported a dull-gray metallic hue on the hull due to the Titanium-A battle plating armor. The _Far Away _was lighter grey, almost white. It was also fast, using Forerunner based propulsion drives and four smaller drives. It was also powered by two XR2-M BF Reactors, the XR2-M's were like the ones used on the _Infinity_-Class cruisers, albeit smaller. Just one of these cores provided the ship with energy to propulsion,. Life support, Slipspace transitions. The second Reactor was purely for the offensive and defensive measures that the Far Away had at her disposal.

Unlike other UNSC ships which were equipped with one or two MAC guns that were build along or most of the ship itself. The _Far Away _was mounted with a FPP, Forward Particle Projector. The weapon ran a good 50 meters from the front of the ship inwards and was connected to the second drive core. The FPP was unlike any weapon used by the UNSC or Covenant at any stage for the last hundred years. If anyone was asked what the weapon was like, they would say that the weapon was "Spartan Laser" enlarged several hundred times and mounted on a ship. Which it was, based off Forerunner Particle AA guns the weapon built up a massive charge in the "chamber" and then fired it at light speed with pinpoint accuracy.

It was the perfect ship-to-ship weapon. The second Reactor made sure its charging speed was on par with most MAC guns, it was faster than Plasma and more accurate.

That wasn't the only thing that made the _Far Away _lethal in space. It was also mounted with four smaller "MAC" cannons along the sides of the ship for "strafing" runs against other ships during close fights. Along with five dozen twin-barrel 60mm Point-Defense guns along the hull and six heavy salvo ports for missile deployment.

For defense. The Destroyer was gifted with 2.5 meters of Titanium-AF plating, a material based again off Forerunner design providing the same protection properties of 5 meters of Titanium A plating for half the weight. But the most impressive defense _Far Away _possessed was the RHLB defense grid.

Reactive Hard-Light Barrier defense grids were newly developed emitters that were installed across the outer hull and created a "web" along the ship, Over three hundred of these emitters were scattered across the hull of the ship to provide the best protective blanket possible. RHLB grids were the first line of defense and, for lack of a better word, impenetrable to all matters of attack. In essence, the grid reacted to threats coming at the ship, such as plasma torpedoes or missiles. It would track the trajectory of those incoming objects and with help from a shipboard Dumb-AI designed specially for that task, produce a "wall" of hard-light at the points impact moments before they did impact, similar to how Sentinel shields "snapped" into place when objects of certain weight and velocity were fired at them.

Hard-Light was impenetrable or damn close to it, plasma splashed off it, it deflected or outright stopped MAC rounds and missiles may as well have been suicide runners. They were also EMP shielded which meant even nuclear detonation wouldn't knock them out.

The only downside was that they were damn energy drainers.

The second Reactor, while yes was used to power the offensive and defensive options, was installed mainly because of the large amount of power that the RHLB grid took up during operation. Between powering the engines, FPP and RHLB along with the other needed systems on the _Far Away_. You needed two reactors to make it all work efficiently otherwise the FPP would recharge much slower than a MAC between shots and even slower when the RHLB grid was active and deflecting blows.

A marvel and only one of seventy-eight in operation so far within the UNSC due to its High cost to build along with time to actually build the ship itself. However the Shipyards on Mars were currently working on another seven, along with four other new shipping yards across the Inner colonies. Each was also under heavy security, while the Insurrection wasn't nearly as strong as it had once been, they were still bold enough to try and steal UNSC ships. All in all, the _Far Away _was like the Infinity of its current time.

And in Maria Price's thirteen years of service, the best ship she had ever served on. Maria Price was an Junior Grade Lieutenant and in charge of Communications on the Far Away, pushing forty-five she was still striking, fiery red hair cut at the perfect regulation length, uniform always in top shape and she was good at her job. A top grade Officer.

And that was a curse, for her good pay her hours for shore leave to be with her husband and son was almost non-existent year around and during tours in the outer colonies she couldn't even send a vid mail home. This was made worse by the fact her husband was a spook, a fact she disapproved off whenever they spoke, and her son was, last she heard from him, running through the ODST selection process to become a trooper.

Her family, despite its broad skills and fields, would never be whole again it seemed, not until they all retired or were somehow assigned to the same ship. It had been a full year since they all been together, for three days they had managed to make the most of it on Earth, enjoying five-star treatment and the simpler things. It may have been three days, but they were the best she had in her life.

She passed by some of her colleagues, giving them a brief salute and smile she continued on towards the bridge. Beside her, many others were moving to their stations to travel through the Prometheus 2 Device and see what awaited them on the other side. Since the first time had lead them to a garden world, the UNSC was also using this as a chance to showoff their advanced new ship.

She guessed that was why the _Far Away _had been pulled from the Earth Defense Fleet and was sent out here in a hurry, anyway.

A quick lift right up two decks and two halls later she arrived on the bridge where Captain Victor Wallace was waiting on his command chair, he was middle aged man, well mannered and a capable Captain. In her eyes he was a fine Captain to serve under. His hair was graying around the edges and sometimes his eyes looked tired, but he had been an ensign and like her had been a coms Officer on a ship during the war, she imagined seeing planets get glassed does that to a person.

But he was always smiling anyways, setting a cheery example for his crew. Some tried to be lax about it, but he was also quick to chomp down on slacking.

"Junior Lieutenant Price," Maria presented herself to him, snapping off a salute and standing at attention. "Reporting, Captain." He kept a hard look at her, and she restrained the urge to smile knowing this was an act on his part. He loved to play the "always stern, tired Captain" act every time his officers reported formally to him instead of just taking their stations.

His stern look stayed a moment, then the corners of his lips twitched and he smiled. "At ease, Junior Lieutenant Price," he saluted back. "Man your station and get me a link to the rest of the fleet, ask them if they're ready for the operation."

"Sir," Maria smiled, turned and took her station. She logged into her console and her fingers danced over the keys with practiced and perfected speed. Thirteen years of service and one year of training did that to a person. Soon enough, she received replies from the other ships in the small fleet, all were green to go.

"We're green from the _Lancer_, _Massachusetts_," she reported. "The _Final Say _and _Eye of the Beholder _are also green. Just waiting on the go word from us, Captain."

"Good," Wallace nodded from his command chair, looking at the list of ships and the overhead countdown timer to the Operation. So far, only forty-minutes until they began.

Maria had to admit, she was excited to see what was on the other side. A part of her hoped it was friendly intelligent life. If it was, perhaps they could finally begin to expand on their new purpose to other species as well, maybe one day they would find a species, much like ancient humans, squatting in the mud, primitive and lost in war an d strife. Then, like the Jiralhanae back in Forerunner space, begin the uplifting process and aid them on the path to peaceful advancement.

She closed her eyes and imagined it. A new species, standing beside humanity, hand in the air as they together with the other species of the galaxy basked in the shadow of the Mantle of Humanity's responsibility to the life of the universe as caretakers, ensuring the universe was gifted with life across its stars and to teach them to cherish each and those who shared in their existence.

Such was Humanity's Mantle as she believed it to be. The Forerunners before them had been enforcers of the Mantle, they collected and indexed entire species in the final days of their desperate war against the parasitic flood. And in their last moments, blessed humanities ancestors with the final sacred duty of upholding the mantle in their stead.

Then, they had fired the Halo Array wiping all life from Forerunner space and starving the flood. And in the wake of the floods extinction, reseeded the now empty, fertile planets with their old life forms. Effectively destroying and reviving the galaxy to give it a new hope without fear of the Flood.

Maria smiled, she always liked that story, she told it to her son and husband many a times when they were together. Her husband wasn't a believer in the Mantle, she didn't begrudge him that, she understood it was hard for him to accept it, she didn't push it onto him or her boy, she just told them to "keep an open mind" once in awhile.

"Maria, quit yer daydreamin' and listen! It's Admiral Hood making a public statement!" Her colleague and close friend Jessica Helens on Operations hissed beside her, snapping her from her religious daydreaming.

Maria looked up, "Sorry, Jess." she said, then looked to the main screen on the Bridge and saw Admiral Terrance Hood standing on a stage before a podium, several other naval personnel at his side. It was another announcement to the public concerning the operation that would begin in… thirty minutes now.

"_Ladies and gentlemen_," Hood began, leaning down slightly, he was more aged on screen than in person. But still had the same commanding aura he had lead fleets against the Covenant with. "_Citizens of Earth and all her colonies. Today… we embark on yet another journey across unknown space into unknown territory in the hopes of discovering new life and planets to help spread not only our influence as Humanity, but also the influence of our allies_." Hood's gaze travelled over the various reporters.

"Is be broadcasting across UNSC space?" Jess whispered to Maria, eyes fixed on the screen.

Maria shook her head slightly. "No, I think he's broadcasting across Sangheili, UNSC and Kig-Yar space…" she was surprised, the only time the UNSC has ever made a galaxy wide news broadcast that reached Sanghelios and Eayn was to announce that trading agreements had been met and that all three species wished for a prosperous outcome to this action.

She wondered what this was about then.

Hood spoke again. "_When we began to colonize the newly named Prometheus System, the committee met and agreed that once the colony was established, the other two worlds would be terraformed and offered to our allies, the Sangheili and Kig-Yar_." The reporter before him began to clamber to ask him questions, he raised his hand and they quieted. "_Your questions will be answered by myself shortly, but first. Let us wish the crews of the exploration fleet our best and pray when they return it is with glad tidings._"

"_To Humanity's expansion_…" Hood said, standing tall now. "_And all her allies_."

Maria smiled. _And to all life as well, Hood_. She thought.

Twenty-minute marker hit. Maria and the other officers were ordered to focus up and get the ship into final test runs to check for any problems, which were to be reported ASAP. Maria set to work checking the communications antennae, systems and running the various test phases. When they all turned up green, she reported it to the Captain.

"Very good," Wallace nodded at the report, scrolling across the various others being forwarded it to his personal tablet. "Alright. We're ready to get this show on the road." he looked up at the timer. Ten minutes to go. "Alright, get me a line the other ships in the fleet."

"Yes, Captain," Maria typed quickly. "Link up now, sir. You're on the air."

"Attention Exploratory fleet," Wallace said when the faces of the ship Captains appeared on the forward viewer. "Get ready for the jump. What I heard these things play hell with our gear for a few moments, so communications might be down for awhile when we jump." he paused, then added. "Commander Massey, you got the honor of activating the first Device. I want you right on my tail when the Far Away goes through. The rest of you fall in formational order through as well. Once through, I want a quick patrol of the next system. Clear?"

The other Captains confirmed the orders.

"Good, UNSC has got this whole event built up like a party too, so, lets try to make it back without any scratched paint, eh, Massey?" he grinned this time at the Commander of the _Eye of the Beholder_.

Massey, to his credit, just scowled and offered a curt. "_Yes, Captain_."

That jab out of the way, the crew waited for the counter to hit zero and so they could begin the operation. At the five minute marker there were a half dozen civilians shuttles outside, likely news crews and civilians eager to see the spectacle since the first time had been a more private affair. After the events of the First Contact with the Covenant, more than a few people were eager to embrace peaceful expansion rather than hesitant "watch those corners" mentality the UNSC in the following decade of the war's end.

"I feel like we should be holding streamers or somethin'," Jessica said from her station, earning a light hearted chuckle from the other officers. "What? Its like counting down to a new year, or a birthday party."

"It kinda is a birthday party, lot of people gathering to celebrate an event, or birth, of a new discovery and all its possibilities." Mara said, nodding sagely as if she were an old wizard.

"Two minute mark." Wallace said, "Helm. Move us up to hailing distance of the Device, prepare the same counter-response the _Eye of the Beholder_'s Pelican used." he said, putting on his Captain's face and sitting straight up in his chair. He tapped his tablet and began to recount the whole event on a voice recording that would be beamed back to the Shanxi colony when they made it across. Just a formality for the press.

"One minute marker. Launching a hail to the device once within com range." He said, looking ahead at the inactive device. Its blue pulsing core getting brighter as they neared the com channels began to broadcast static, a sign the thing was trying to establish a link. Just as the Pelican from the Eye of the Beholder had reported. "Device has hailed all channels. Responding now."

He nodded to Maria.

She didn't nod back, instead she responded on all channels the message the pilot had used to activate the first device. And over their heads, the message played.

"_Please don't vaporize us_."

Maria almost laughed, that was the message the pilot sent? Oh Forerunners that was hilarious! She smiled instead, Jessica snorted and Jack at Navigations chuckled. Only Wallace kept his serious face on and kept his eyes on the Device.

It pulsed once more and the channels cleared. Then, the core pulsed three times more rapidly before the three rings around it began to spin in opposing directions. The pulsing increased, then faded back to normal levels. Energy spikes registered on their sensors from the device, which then levelled out again.

"Device is active." Wallace said to the tablet. "Helm, increase speed by five percent, move us into jump distance of it."

"Aye, Captain." Jack said and moved the ship faster towards the device. They all watched it get closer, soon it was dwarfing the _Far Away_ as they neared the energy core. The countdown timer read ten seconds,

"Ten seconds," Wallace said without looking at the timer. "Nine."

"Eight…" Jessica added, serious voiced with excited undertones. "Seven."

"Six," Maria picked it up, trying to keep her own expression serious to mask her own elation. "Five."

"Four," Jack now, cracking his neck. "Three."

"Two…" Wallace finished. "One."

Bolts of electricity shot from the objects core, impacting the hull of the _Far Away _and as predicted, the systems were bugging out, though not by much if at all. It was noticeable, but hardly a hindrance. Soon, the glow surrounding their ship intensified, the stars turned to blurred streaks and the galaxy dissolved into a mass blur of motion-

And then they decelerated a mere moment later in another system.

"Systems report," Captain Wallace said, looking over his crew briefly before moving his eyes out to the space before them.

"It's official, Captain," Jack at Navigations spoke up. "We're in unknown space. Local scans don't put us anywhere in known space." he looked up, "We're green, sir."

"Communication systems all check out, we are out of range of any com probes long range sensors don't detect any local channels." Maria spoke up, performing her own systems check quickly, they still had a job afterall.

"Weapons systems are green as well."

"Operations' green," Jessica smiled from her seat. "Well, we weren't be vaporized, that's for sure."

The bridge crew laughed a little at that one, even Wallace got a grin out of it. "Good, inform me when the others make the jump as well, remember, these things have a drift effect so we might need to make some fast adjustments, most us away from the device." he ordered now.

"Aye, Captain."

The _Far Away _accelerated away from the Device. A half minute later the _Eye of the Beholder _appeared in the same jump area, its engines flared and it too accelerated to a safe distance and took to the right side of the _Far Away_ to get into formation. They reported green as well. Then came the _Massachusetts_, followed by the _Lancer_ and _Final Say _after that. All ships reported green.

"Good," Wallace smiled from his chair. "Now, lets move people. We're going to take a small stroll around the system, make a pass by every planet and get a reading on atmosphere, read out any notable stars or moons." he said, turning serious again. "Science boys are going to want to name this system too, may as well do a quick survey while we have our two hour window."

"Also, prepare the messenger bird." Wallace added to Maria. "Transmit my recording to the pilots external tablet, he can take it back through the jump and they can play it over and over for five hours until everyone is sick of my voice." he grinned.

"Aye, Captain." Maria took, rolling her eyes and contacted the pilot. "Messenger bird. I'm forwarding you an audio file. Ensure it gets back to Shanxi." she said into the com. "And double time it, we're about to take off for a quick recon around the planets in-system."

"_Got it, Lieutenant,_" crackled the com. "_I'm off in one minute. Safe flying out there_."

"You too, communications out." Maria leaned back in her seat. They had successfully jumped and so far all was going according to plan, now they would simply drive around the system and scan the planets and moons to get a quick reading to let the science labs aboard the _Eye_ to think over while completed their brief tour for report back at Shanxi.

The formation accelerated, and soon the first planet was in sight. A desolate looking one by the looks of it, surface looked like a mixture of sand yellow with soft patches of red. She didn't know what it was, but she was sure the soft patches were giant storm clouds visible from their extreme distance. It had two moons as well, varying in size.

"I'm getting some weird readings from the scanners, Captain." Operations reported, frowning a bit. "Unknown energy emissions, low levels of it…nothing to suggest a ship, but its there."

Wallace sat up straighter in his chair and his relaxed posture disappeared, replaced by the professionalism of a UNSC Navy Captain from the war. "Location of these readings?" he asked.

"Multiple directions, I think the energy is a bleeding effect from the Device, when we used it the energy field that enveloped us must be sticking to us, throwing off sensor readings." Operations suggested, typing away. "Going to check with the others and see if they're receiving similar readings," Jessica looked over to the Captain. "With your permission, Captain."

"Granted." Wallace nodded and moved his gaze back to the planet. One of the moons on the right was greyish black, they'd be passing it soon enough. They entered its shadow shortly when Jessica reported that the other ships were getting similar sensor readings. Most of the crew agreed it was just some sort of bleeding effect from the other ships. "Alright, lets keep going then. Once we clear the dark of the moon we'll make a quick jump to Slipspace to make it to the next planet over since it's a fair distance away."

"Aye, Captain." Navigations replied and got to work setting the jump coordinates and began the charging phase for the Slipspace engine.

"Lieutenant Price, inform the others that we'll be jumping to Slipspace and that they should follow us through, same them some time."

"On it, sir." Maria replied, connecting lines to the other four ships. "Attention, exploratory fleet. We are preparing to make a slipspace jump to the next planet over as soon as we leave the shadow of the moon. Captains orders are to follow us through, understood?"

A series of affirmatives and they were good.

The formation continued along and as they were leaving the shadow of the moon they were passing. The Frigate _Final Say _reported power burst on the sensor, again with the unknown source of energy.

Then the middle of the right side hull exploded in a brilliant flash of shredded Titanium-A battle plate and the ships superstructure warped around the impact wound, the impact itself drove the ship to the left and it rammed bow first into the _Lancer_'s right side engine. The _Final Say_'s bow bent and crumbled as the superstructure gave way to the forces of impacting the other ship. But not before crippling said ships engine and causing hull breaches across several of the decks.

"Sir! Weapons impact on the _Final Say_!" Maria reported in alarm, sitting up and working over the keys. "She's reporting large hull breaches at the impact sight! The force of the shot also caused her to ram the _Lancer _nose first!" she reported quickly, taking a breath and switching into her own professional form. "_Lancer'_s right engine is damaged and offline. As id the _Final Say_'s MAC gun."

Wallace didn't stand up in alarm, exclaim in surprise or show any form of surprise side the narrowing of his eyes. But he did fire out the orders, "Operations! Get me a line on where that shot was fired from!" he said. "And have the ships loosen the formation! Go to full combat readiness!"

"Aye, sir." Jessica whispered.

Klaxons blared.

Across the ship, marines got to their armories, suited up into their armor and loaded up their weapons. The Hanger bays got busy prepping the fighters to launch in case they were needed. And Maria? She felt fear and disappointment grip her chest. They had been fired upon, which meant intelligent life… hostile, intelligent life.

"Weapon safeties are off," Operations reported.

"Heat spike!" Jack called. "Multiple now! Counting at least seven bursts! Heat emissions… they're coming in from up below the moon!"

"Get me a visual, Now!"

The forward screen winked on and showed the shadowed forms of seven vessels moving in an attack formation, the largest was at rear of the tight V formation. Their hulls were a mixture of white, blue and grey in color and each was mounted with what appeared to be forward mounted guns on their bows. And they were speeding towards the fleets exposed right side from downward angle.

If Wallace had to guess it was the largest vessel that had fired the first shot and had intentionally wanted the Final Say to crash into its sister ship. Whoever was Captain of that ship was a smart bastard. And soon a dead one.

"They're firing!"

"Evade!" Wallace barked.

"Not at us, sir…" Jack's eyes widened. "They're targeting the _Lancer_ and _Final Say_!"

Maria's eyes widened. With the damage to the engine for the _Lancer_ and the damage from the first shot to the _Final Say_… "They won't be able to dodge." she whispered.

The seven rounds from the new hostile fleet moved towards the UNSC fleet formation in a pointed arrowhead like formation, the two targeted ships engines flare to try and accelerate out of the way. The _Final Say _arched upwards to try and dodge the four rounds aimed at it…

And too slow as the three of four of the rounds impacted its right side. The ship buckled at each blow that sent even more pieces of its outer hull outwards, one of the rounds impacted near the first's impact site, the already weakened structure beneath the hull gave way like withered drywood to a hammer strike.

The _Final Say _bent at the middle, its left side strained… then the round punched through with a splash of metal fragment and atmosphere. Bleeding, the engines sputtered and it began to drift slightly, its engines glowed a moment later as if to accelerate.

Then its hull bent outwards and flames engulfed the entirety of it.

The _Lancer_ took two of the four intended rounds… to its already damaged engine, while the other two had missed.

The _Lancer_'s engine flared blue, then white… and with a brilliant, but brief flash of fire the engine exploded with enough force to send the Frigate into a tumble, its second and main engines sputtering to try and counter their spin.

The _Massachusetts_ broke formation, speeding ahead turning to try and face the enemy. It let loose a salvo of Archer missiles as it turned.

Wallace barked out. "Activate the XL-10s! Bring us hard to port!" They were going to strafe those ships with the MAC turrets mounted along the port side of their hull. "Order the _Eye of the Beholder_ to fall back towards the Device and jump back through to Shanxi!"

"Sir!" Maria got to it while the others followed their own orders. "They acknowledge and are breaking off now, Captain!"

"Good," Wallace muttered. "Now… lets teach these bastards a lesson about how to play hard ball."

The _Far Away_ turned and moved downward, they were visible on the main viewing screen as the Archer missile salvo closed in on the enemy formation. And they watched as the enemy vessels used pinpoint laser shots to fire down the closing missiles, but not all, more than half made it through and struck the ships…

Or rather, their protective barriers. The surface flickered and through the plumes of fire the vessel sped by the _Massachusetts _on both sides, the forward ships letting lose more laser shots at near point-blank range. Along with a salvo of what appeared to be plasma torpedoes? Whatever they were, they washed across the hull of the _Final Say_, leaving blackened holes where they struck while the pulse lasers left melted lines that crissed and crossed.

Venting atmosphere on both sides the ship pulled up as the larger lined up a shot. And fired once before turning off to avoid a full on collision with the Frigate. The round that it had fired slammed into the belly of the ship, sheared through the armor and into the ship itself and sending it into a tumble similar to the _Lancer_.

The enemy formation continued to move, veering left to try and stay out of the way of the _Far Away_'s obvious forward cannon. The craft were nimble, even the larger ship, while noticeably slower, was still able to move in a loose V formation with the rest of them. Like a pack of wolves working to ambush their prey.

"Not that'll help them," Wallace whispered, noting the Tac Map. The enemy formation broke into two pairs, three veering left, the Corvette sized vessels increased their speed and flew straight for the injured _Lancer_ who was just now getting its tumble under control. "Fire salvos one through five, target the three ships headed for the _Lancer_!"

A series of hollow thumps sounded out as the missiles launched and flew towards the three ships on an intercept course.

"Get me a firing solution on the other four! Load the XL-10s!"

"Sir, making it happen!" Jessica's fingers moved with controlled speed, obviously trying not to make a mistake.

Maria watched as the four vessels continued to turn until it became clear they were trying to line their main guns up for strafing run on the _Far Away _like they did with the _Massachusetts_ moments ago and again the largest craft took up the rear of the formation while the smaller ones sped ahead.

"Target the forward hostiles! Don't waste rounds on the larger one. I want the faster ships down!" the Captain called.

"Sir, lock on the forward vessels. We're green to fire!"

"Fire!"

The _Far Away_'s XL-10 MAC mini-MACs opened fire. The four dual pronged turrets, each the size of a Covenant Spirit transport ship, fired a Tungsten round at high velocity using magnetic force to deliver near unmatched speed and power compared to conventional weapons. Nothing short of the Forward Particle Projector could match the speed of the rounds, well, that and whatever the enemy was using.

The four rounds streaked through space towards the closing craft, which lifted up to try and dodge the rounds. But at the velocity the rounds were going combined with the face the enemy was rushing their side left them little options.

Four for four. All the rounds found their targets. One of the craft took one to the bow, its shielding failed and the round slammed into its nose, warping the forward structure and sending it nose up, exposing its belly to the second round and without its shields to soften the blow the MAC round punched it through and in half.

It was gone in a show of fire and molten metal a moment later.

Another took a round to its wing, the round bouncing off its shields due to the angle it had turned. The last of the three forward craft took a round the rear of their top hull, like the first ship, its shields held a blink before giving way and letting the round slam into its back where its engines were likely located as well.

It too exploded. Two of three kills achieved with one volley.

The missile salvo reached the three craft headed for the _Lancer_. Again their pulse lasers and shields made short work of the salvo, and the crew of the _Far Away _watched in helplessness as the _Lancer_ was strafed by the enemy craft, pinpoint beams cutting across the hull and a single round to the midsection of the ship where the armor had been weakened by a pair of the plasma torpedo look-a-likes.

Reactor breached. The ship became a small star and when the light died, nothing was left but a debris field and the bodies of the _Lancer_'s seven hundred personnel.

The three enemy craft turned upwards and began to move in a loop that would bring them in a downward angle towards the _Far Away _while the surviving craft from the wave that tried to strafe the Destroyer rejoined the larger ship. The pair fired at the _Far Away _at range with their main guns.

"Evade those shots! Track the closing vessels and roll us over!" Wallace commanded as he gripped the armrests of his chair. Eyes furious, posture tense and teeth almost grit in a snarl. Everyone could feel the anger rolling off the Captain, but it wasn't blind anger, it was focused. Ferocious. "Reload the XL-10s and when we have a lock, open fire on the approaching craft! And fire the remaining Archer missiles at the long range targets!"

The bridge crew confirmed the orders, working to fulfill them. Maria frowned, noting the way the ships flew… and then they fired a salvo of their own torpedoes, the bright blue streaks moving towards them while the ships continued their loop.

The cloud of missiles streaked towards the Cruiser sized vessel and the single small craft at its side. They accelerated forward towards it, confident in their shields to take the brunt of the damage. And when the missiles detonated against their shields and they flew through the resulting flames, their confidence was well founded. The shields they were using made short work of missiles.

"Lets see how they like Nuclear missiles then," Wallace grunted. "Arm one SHIVA-class warhead and fire it on low burn, have it drift on their projected path and set detonation controls to my tablet!"

"Understood, sir!" Jessica nodded, biting her lip. "Missile away, Captain!"

"Captain!" Jack called from his seat. "Enemy craft have released another volley of their missiles! Impact in twelve seconds!"

"Evade them!"

The first pair of missiles streaked towards the _Far Away_, the ship pushed its engines to full and with a jump of speed the pair missed… the second turned to trail the Destroyer while the Cruiser and Corvette fired again from long range with their main gun. Forcing the Destroyer to alter its course again, clean misses for the shots.

The missiles however would hit. The ship's RHLB grid snapped into place and the blue Hard-Light surfaces formed a protective wall between the ship and the missiles. They impacted and the Hard-Light shielding distorted, sputtered and then faded, their job done.

The Cruiser and Corvette pair turned to try and line up another shot while the looping three hostiles ending their dance by moving to the right side of the _Far Away_. Pincering the ship between their two formations.

"Burn, you bastards." Wallace said, then pressed the detonation key on his tablet.

A bright flash of light appeared between the Cruiser and Corvette, their shields died in an instant, their hulls boiled away as did the superstructure beneath it, and with a final explosion the nuke detonated, followed by two more as the pair of crafts own reactors went with them.

The last three ships broke off and veered away at speeds too fast for the Destroyer to catch them in the time it would take to turn and go after them at their current distance. But for now, he could only assume they were retreating with the destruction of their Cruiser.

Wallace sat back, watching the craft disappear as they flew further away. The _Lancer_ and _Final Say_ were gone, all hands likely lost, well over one-thousand personnel. And the _Massachusetts_ wouldn't be making it back to Shanxi without a helping hand.

The only ship to come out of this unscathed was the _Eye of the Beholder _which had hopefully made the jump back to Shanxi. "Contact the _Massachusetts_. Tell them to prepare their people to come aboard the Far Away and to scuttle the ship after enacting the Cole Protocol of wiping all relevant data from their data stores." he said, tone curt while he raised a hand to his temples and massaged them.

"Sir? We're not towing them?" Maria asked.

"We don't know what making a jump in the device will do to that damaged ship. And we sure as hell aren't risking a Slipspace jump either." Wallace replied bitterly. "Send the message."

"Aye, Captain." Maris whispered.

"Time to deliver the _wonderful_ news…" he said, "First contact was a mess, _again._"

Maria stared sadly at the monitor of the retreating vessels. Why had they opened fire? Why hadn't they tried to hail their ships before attacking to try and reach a peaceful solution? These questions swam through her mind. She was sad either side had to suffer losses and now Humanity would have an enemy in the form of these species.

To Maria, it was just another bump on Humanity's road to upholding the Mantle of Responsibility.

**End of Chapter Four**

_**Well, there's Chapter Four. All 6000+ words of it! Now, this is it, the start of it all. Turians VS Humanity, the First Contact War… least with the Turians and Humans. You've also been given a glance into the newer ships that the UNSC has at its disposal, broken? You bet. Don't even get me started on Infinity-Class **_**Daedalus**_**. **_

_**But, onto another subject which I think you may all be curious about. The idea of the Mantle of Responsibility influence on Humanity. Essentially during the Didact War in 2557-2560 the information attained from the Librarian, along with the Janus Key, which would lead Humanity to every piece of known Forerunner tech across Forerunner space. While much of it was kept secret from the public, information leaks in 2563 spread through the inner colonies. Files pertaining to the Librarian and John-117's encounter with the Didact, who was quoted as saying "Then Humanity has not yet attained the Mantle… your Ascendance may yet be prevented."**_

_**This would give birth to an almost religious following of the Human population that Humanity had been chosen by the Forerunners to take up their past Mantle as caretakers of the galaxy, spawning debates and entire factions across the inner, and a year later, outer colonies as many others embraced the idea of being chosen by this super advanced race who had nobly sacrificed themselves to stop the flood before reseeding the galaxy with life, but before doing that, had decided to pass their Mantle onto Humanity.**_

_**Many who believed in the Mantle of Responsibility began to push for the betterment of Humanity as a whole, fairer treatment of other species and understanding for their Forerunner forefathers. By the year of 2579 the following of the Mantle was so large it has a hold in almost every planet and organization. Some going as far as to write poetry about it. The basic understanding of the idea is that Humanity must set aside greed and discrimination in favor of understanding so they may use the gifts left to them by the Forerunners to help the other species of the galaxy, not just their allies, but all intelligent life to betterment. Such thoughts and sympathies were what birthed the Jiralhanae rehabilitation program and allowed the Kig-Yar and Sangheili trading hubs to flourish as they did.**_

_**The Influence of the information leaked was so great, that even former Covenant species such as Sangheili, who revered the Forerunners as Gods, began to accept that Humanity was chosen by their Gods to succeed them, and so some Sangheili see the humans as "God Children" and do their most to aid the humans to transcendence, believing that aiding them will better themselves in the eyes of the Gods. Sangheili represent the largest of this movement with few other species becoming enthralled with it.**_

_**And there you have it, a brief explanation on the Mantle of Responsibility's influence on Human and galactic society.**_


	6. Chapter five

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Five**

**January 12, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Central Command Station **_**Atlas**_**, Sol System. 0700 Hours.  
**"So," Fleet Admiral Leonardo Petrov said from his place inside the committee room aboard the station Atlas. "Who wants to be the first to open up this can of worms?"

In less than four days he was back in here discussing something he wished he wouldn't have to. It was the topic of new worlds discovered, what to name a new colony or system. What color cocoa beans he wanted to make available to officers across the fleet.

He was here to discuss the topic of Hostile Alien contact which had resulted in the destruction of two Frigates, the scuttling of the last and since the cameras had been rolling when the _Eye of the Beholder _returned, followed by the _Far Away _with the crew of the _Massachusetts_ seated inside its hangers and barracks after their ship had been wiped and destroyed via timed detonation of its Fusion Reactor.

When they returned, the UNSC had quickly responded to the possible threat by deploying a staggering eighty-nine ships to the Prometheus 2 Device and kept their fingers on the trigger in case whatever species those unknown ships belonged too came after the _Far Away _looking for a rematch. The Prometheus has been locked down and Sol and the surrounding systems were at Battle stations, waiting for the first sign of trouble and the chance to blow it to dust.

But now, this meeting was being held to discuss options and talk about their new enemy.

One of the civilians spoke up, offering a suggestion. "Perhaps it was a misunderstanding? These unknowns might have mistaken our fleet for an invasion force." he said, looking them over, the brass found that unlikely, very unlikely.

Sharon, one of the other civilians, spoke. "If they did, perhaps we should send out a smaller craft, attempt to find them and offer peaceful negotiations?" she looked them over. "If we march to war so quickly, we'd be setting a bad example for our allies to follow. We cannot be quick to take up arms and take to the fields of battle. It will only lead to more ruin."

Hood frowned. "With all due respect, we aren't taking up arms, we're grabbing shields. They fired first, and with obvious lethal intent as the eleven hundred, thirty-five personnel of the _Final Say _and _Lancer_ can attest to… if they could." he said, looking to Leonardo, who had been quiet so far. "The people don't want another war, but we've been fired upon again. Old habits are being resparked."

"Doesn't help that the only two ships who returned were being broadcast to every colony we have," another civilian muttered.

Sharon frowned slightly, looking at them all before sighing. "It is a tragedy, but such hardships have to be expected when we travel out in search of other planets and life." she began, "We shouldn-"

"Sharon, The Mantle isn't a religion nor is it a decree that Humanity should stand by and do nothing when we're attacked unprovoked." Micheal said from his chair, McCarthy at his side, looking like Micheal had just spoken the most taboo of words. He may as well have, considering the looks some of the civilians and two of the brass were giving him. He continued anyways. "We were attacked, we have to retaliate. Negotiation can come after the enemy has surrendered."

"So we're to become the Covenant to this new race?" Sharon bit back, glaring at him.

That sparked more than a few risings from the assembled committee, Hood watched as glares were thrown and insults were about to be flung.

"Enough!"

The room quieted again and everyone glanced towards the glaring fleet admiral, who's voice had raised over the ensuing arguments and half the room look as if they had been struck across the face. Hood didn't blame them, most didn't know Leonardo like he did and had never seen him angry.

Nor did they know his lack of patience for pointless bickering.

"Sharon," He said, giving said woman a small bow of his head. "My fellow committee members," he addressed them all now, standing and with arms behind his back marched to the center of the room. He passed his eyes over each of them once, then said. "I appreciate all of your input, your advices have been instrumental to the UNSC for the last three decades since the war. But!" he narrowed his eyes.

"Ultimately, any action that is to be taken by the UNSC concerning the following events falls to me and me alone," he strolled in a semi circle, continuing to speak. "We will seek peace. But not before we've bloodied our newer foes noses first." Sharon made to speak, he held up his hand and she stopped. "The Mantle was be upheld. Compassion, however, cannot be tainted by inaction. They have spilled our blood and us theirs." he sighed. "I will not seek peace right out of the gate and appear to this new species as submissive. Humanity will not appear weak."

"A show of force," Micheal whispered from his spot, watching the Fleet Admiral closely. He was going to use a show of force to cow these unknowns, show them Humanity wouldn't take a hit and back down before they took a shot.

"The twenty-eighth battle group is currently parked outside the Device waiting for an enemy to present itself. This will not do," Leonardo went on, stopping his walk and facing the entirety of the committee. "We are going to battle, we will find the enemies base of Operations and then we will occupy it and repel all offensive attempts against us." He declared. "Only then will we offer them peace."

"That's all fine in theory, Fleet Admiral," One of the civilians spoke, applauding lowly. "But how are we supposed to find them? We'd have to wait for them to attack again to follow their ships back, by then it would be moot since they'd have attacked. So, how do we intend to strike first?"

Leonardo fixed the man with a level stare before smirking slightly. "Fair points. That is why shortly after the return of the _Far Away_, the Prowler Unseen Dagger was dispatched to the combat zone and following the retreating crafts course and launched several long range ping scans." he informed them.

"But travel past the Prometheus 2 Device was prohibited until we agreed on a solution," Sharon said, frowning in discontent at the Fleet Admiral, looking like she wanted to say something else. "What's a Prowler doing out there?"

"It's not out there," Leonardo replied simply, no warning necessary to enforce this was not to leave the meeting room. "Majestic, please bring up the report you prepared for us, please." he said, looking to the ceiling and standing aside to let the AI take the stage.

"At once, Fleet Admiral." Majestic's curt voice boomed. "Ladies and gentlemen, the following report was prepared using the black box data of the _Far Away _and _Massachusetts_." he explained. "First, lets look at what we saw."

A Three-Dimensional model of the seven ships in formation appeared before the committee.

"Now, notice they are only made up of two designs. The largest appears to be eight hundred and eleven meters in length from stern to bow. Its size suggests it to be a Heavy tonnage vessel, likely a Destroyer at least or Cruiser at most. Just slightly bigger than the _Far Away_," A scale model appeared, placing the Far Away beside the enemy Cruiser. "The other six vessels were significantly smaller. Just barely topping out at six hundred and twenty meters in length, Their mass was also greatly reduced compared to the Cruiser. They were however very agile and able to pull off turns at speed. The Cruiser as well while being slower was also capable of impressive mobility despite its size. Obviously, this species places a high value in agility."

"They also appear to be very adapt using that agility as they set up an ambush at range that severely damaged the Lancer and Final Say in one swoop, finishing off the Final Say in the ensuing pass. This showed they were quite capable of planning close fly-bys against our ships and they also managed to pick up that our ships were all mounted with a forward gun that they stayed out of the way of." Majestic went on as the screen changed to a recreation of the strafing run the unknowns had used on the small fleet.

"What sort of weapons do they use?" Hood asked.

"Well, that parts both easy and tricky." Majestic replied, the model changed back to the enemy Cruiser. "The round that impacted the _Final Say _was like a standard issue MAC gun impact, fragments of armor found by the _Unseen Dagger _suggest high velocity kinetic slug rounds. But, these ones have a bit of a twist."

A model of one of the supposed rounds appeared next. It was a frozen image from the _Massachusetts_ Black Box, as they had seen the Cruiser finish off the _Lancer _in a strafing pass. "It appears that the slug it fired, despite impacting with the kinetic energy of a medium weight round, is significantly smaller than said round. And…" it zoomed, "Wrapped in some form of energy field. Its not plasma, but whatever it is, it somehow allowed them to turn a slug no bigger than an TV impact with the force of a bus." the image flickered again and was replaced by the image of one of their Plasma torpedo look-a-likes. "These are also made of the same energy, though in a much more concentrated form. Damage to the hull when these weapons impacted was almost laughable, mostly deep burns akin to Covenant Fighter craft level plasma weapons. But," Majestic paused, the hologram pausing a bit before it continued. "_Massachusetts_' Black Box revealed that when these rounds impacted them, Several systems went haywire in the local zone of impact. Systems overload, power fluctuations. But that's not the most interesting part of these missiles."

A second image, again from the _Massachusetts_, appeared. This time it was of the _Far Away _and its use of the RHLB defense to block the missiles. "Now, play it a bit…slow it down," the image turned video played in one frame a second, slowly, the missiles flew forward and then impacted the Hard Light shields that snapped into place to block, the image froze. "Now, look closer."

Majestic zoomed in and the committee stared. "See? The impacts distorted the Hard Light barrier, not break, but they certainly did more to it than anything we've used against them bar nuclear detonations and Heavy MAC rounds. The _Far Away _also didn't report any systems malfunctions, so the defensive measure worked, but the fact the missiles managed to distort, or disrupt, Hard Light barriers alone is interestingly alarming."

One of the committee members frowned and asked, "How come they didn't notice seven ships until only after they opened fire?" He asked now. "You'd think long range sensors would pick something like that up."

"Maybe they had cloaking devices?" One Captain spoke up from his chair.

"No, actually." Majestic spoke now, his avatar appearing before them again. "That was just horrid luck on our part. How we missed this will be forever beyond me, but when our ships travel through the Device, it envelops them in an energy field before firing them…" the AI explained, shaking his head. "Apparently, that energy _sticks_ to the hull of our ships for a time, throwing off sensor readings. When the _Eye of the Beholder _and _Far Away _returned, it took four standard hours for the energy fields to dissipate."

"Wait, so every time we jump across one of those things, we're essentially sensor blind for four hours?" A Vice Admiral asked, looking incredulous. Some of the other UNSC brass shared his look.

"More or less." Majestic replied.

"Seems like a gross oversight…" Hood muttered, shaking his head.

"We never would have known if not for the reports filed from the crew of the _Massachusetts_ and _Far Away_." Majestic flexed his wings and yawned. "Though, heat sensors worked as they should, the enemies engines were what tipped us off. They likely thought themselves caught when they fired and moved ahead to try and engage. Lucky us, had they remained stationary they might have gotten off another volley before the ships manually traced the shots back to them."

"Yes, this whole event has been about luck, hasn't?" another civilian grumbled.

The committee mulled this over in silence. Micheal himself was staring at the images in thoughtful relief. His wife had been aboard the _Far Away _and had gotten a front seat view to the battle, and he still hadn't been able to see her yet because of this meeting and _Far Away_'s stationing on the security fleet inside the Prometheus System. He missed her, and worried… he was considering using some of his contacts inside ONI to try and move her somewhere else, perhaps the Earth Defense fleet?

But for now, these unknown species. Their technology was interesting, as were their tactics and style. They had used brilliantly and, by UNSC standards, risky moves to place the fleet off balance despite outnumbering them. They had also allowed the _Eye of the Beholder _to break off and flee, why? There were too many unknowns here.

He was up for a fight, but it was easy to say that when he wouldn't be on the front lines in unknown territory. The Fleet Admiral was talking a good game, but… was it worth the risks?

_But… _He thought to himself. _Is it worth the risk of being cautious and the Fleet Admiral being proven right?_ He closed his eyes.

Damned troublesome aliens.

Majestic blinked once and his eyes turned to Leonardo. "Fleet Admiral, we're getting communications from Sanghelios, it appears to be non other than… Imperial Admiral Rtas 'Ter Vadum." he reported, sounding just as surprised as the rest of the committee if their expressions were anything to go by. "Should… I put him through?"

Leonardo nodded. "Of course," as if he wasn't surprised how quickly the Sangheili Imperial Admiral had gotten wind of this.

A moment later the Majestic's holographic image shifted and was replaced by the imposing figure of Rtas 'Ter Vadum. Easily the most powerful Sangheili and an older friend of the Arbiter. The Sangheili's eyes took in the Committee a moment before he turned back to Leonardo and bowed his head and placing a fist to his chest in the Sangheili salute.

"_Fleet Admiral Leonardo Petrov_," Rtas greeted evenly in practiced English, something he had become increasingly efficient at. Rtas and Leonardo were on friendlier terms than most humans and Sangheili in the upper echelons of their respective governments. A friendship that had spawned from UNSC Ship-to-ship combat simulation games between the pair, sort of their Chess. "_I am sorry if I am intruding_."

Leonardo would normally wave away the worry, but in the presence of the committee he had to maintain the image of a stoic leader in the eyes of the civilians and other brass. He returned the salute with a nod. "It is fine, Imperial Admiral." he waited until Rtas lowered his hand and stood less rigidly. "To what do we owe the honor of being contacted by someone of your status, Admiral?"

Rtas' head lifted slightly and the Sangheili looked contemplative a moment before replying. "_Word has reached the Empire of your higher Military alert status in the new system, Prometheus and the news footage has also been seen here in Empire space._" he bowed his head again. "_The Arbiter, and myself, are deeply sorry for the losses of your warriors._"

The Committee gave mixed reactions to the bow and apology, some were sternly staring at the Sangheili, others whispered their thanks and some just sat in silence. Leonardo sighed softly, "As are we, Imperial Admiral…" he muttered.

Rtas raised his head again and flicked his arm aside, the fabric cape hanging over his left shoulder piece flew with it, hanging on his back now as he stood more aggressively. "_I humbly request you allow us the chance to aid you against this new foe who dares to spill the blood of Humanity, who have been nothing but friends and guiding hands to the Sangheili since our civilizations troubles at the end of the great war._" he raised a fist, clenching it. "_Give us this chance to aid you to crush this foe_."

Leonardo blinked, the only sign of his surprise to the offer of military aid against the new enemies and his logical mind immediately went to work on how best this could be for Humanity… Sangheili aid would greatly improve the fleet strength of the offensive fleet he had in mind. It would also show another great cooperative action between the two species since the Joint Special Operations against the Covenant Remnants led by Jul 'Mdama during the Didact War.

A few of the committee began to murmur and he raised a hand for silence. He got it. "Imperial Admiral, exactly what assets are you willing to commit to this military aid effort?" he asked simply while he stared at the Imperial Admiral.

Rtas replied flatly. "The _Fleet of Vengeful Repentance_."

Leonardo was now almost ecstatic inside, the Fleet of Vengeful Repentance was composed of at least a hundred vessels, several CSO and CAS Supercarriers, CCS-Class Battlecruisers and the remainder being Destroyers, Corvettes and Frigates. It was a newly created fleet that had been brought together by willing Ship Masters who volunteered to be part of the fleet who would be named as an apology and oath to Humanity that the Sangheili would work to right its wrong doings to them. To Avenge the lives they took and in turn Repent for their sins. Hence the naming of the fleet.

Leonardo himself had been with Hood at the Fleets creation ceremony in orbit above Sanghelios when he was just a Rear Admiral and Hood had still been Fleet Admiral of the UNSC Navy.

"Very well, Imperial Admiral…" Leonardo gave a nod. "Then, I believe we should begin discussing the upcoming offensive operation I've had in mind for awhile now. But first," he turned his gaze on the committee. "Ladies and gentlemen, as this is a Military Operation planning conference, you all must depart who are not military." He bowed his head. "Sorry."

The civilians gave their assent, though he was glared at by Sharon, they all stood, bowed their heads and silently left the room. Soon, it was just the military leaders.

Leonardo to Rtas. "Now, Imperial Admiral." he turned to the others remaining in the room. "My fellow UNSC commanders and Admirals. Allow me to brief you on my proposed plan." he brought a tablet from his dress uniform and said. "Majestic, file X-77-20 on my tablet."

"Of course, Fleet Admiral." Majestic replied, his avatar appearing beside Rtas, smaller in stature compared to the Sangheili. A series of notes began to appear on in the air where Majestic once stood. "My plan is simple. The Prowler, Unseen Dagger, will launch a Slipspace com probe and broadcast its coordinates to the primary assault fleet." He explained. "Once there, we will commit a mass jump to those coordinates, which will hopefully be right at their door. Our fleet will then engage the enemy fleet and if they are over a planet, we will send in ground forces to secure a major population center and several military installations."

Rtas and the other brass listened to the plan as Leonardo explained with rapt attention.

"Once we've established a foothold planet side and secures the locations. We'll force the local population in a lockdown, no leaving the planet and not allowing any military ships to and from the planet itself. Civilian vessels however that are already in the air will be allowed to escape and the population, civilian anyway, will not be targeted and collateral damage will be kept to a minimum if all possible."

Hood mumbled after a moment. "A show of force, not a slaughter." He sighed, "I agree. But we don't know their fleet size. They could have thousands of ships, maybe anti-air planet side. We don't know of their capacity."

"And they don't know ours," Leonardo countered easily and without pausing. "That is why I want the Fleet of Vengeful Repentance on standby for the second phase of the operation." he smirked. "When we take the planet, and make no mistake gentlemen, we need to. When we take the planet. I've no doubt the enemy will assemble large retaliation fleet to retake it… and when they arrive. The Imperial Admiral's fleet will make Slipspace jumps to three locations behind their formation. We will pincer them between our two fleets. Create a kill zone."

Hood quickly caught on. "And then we force contact and offer them terms for a ceasefire?" he asked, raising an impressed brow.

"Exactly," Leonardo chuckled. "We will hand their planet back to them on a silver platter, but not before we've handed their asses to them on a golden one. We'll show our military might, that we have powerful friends and that we are not beyond reason." he stood. "We'll show them our strength."

Rtas stepped forward slightly, bringing a fist to his chest and bowing his head. "_A sound plan, humble the enemy and then offer them peace or a long and bloody battle_." He gave a huff of respect, "_Fleet Admiral. The _Fleet of Vengeful Repentance _is at your disposal_. _For this operation on my word as Imperial Admiral of the Sangheili Empire_."

The Fleet Admiral nodded his thanks, then said. "Good, Get the fleet ready, Imperial Admiral. I'll send you the Slipspace Coordinates and when they arrive."

"The fleet will be ready, Fleet Admiral." Rtas performed the Sangheili salute once more before his image faded away.

"Now," Leonardo said slowly. "Majestic… connect to the _Daedalus_, we're going to give her a debut worthy of a warship."

Majestic reappeared, giving a tiny smile. "Of course, Fleet Admiral."

**January 12, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Prowler **_**Unseen Dagger**_**, Unknown System. 0800 Hours.  
**The Prowler had deployed not a full hour after the return of the _Far Away _and while the public's attention was elsewhere. Mainly on the Destroyer. The _Unseen Dagger _had made the jump across the device in secret. Like all Prowlers, the hull was shadow black and relatively small by UNSC ship standards, more like a bloated Longsword fight loaded with state-of-the-art stealth and electronic counter-measures. They also had a small payload of two SHIVA-Class warheads and a handful of Slipspace Com probes.

Once the Prowler had jumped, it immediately sped off towards the last known coordinates of the unknown vessels, once there it trailed their path as recorded by the _Far Away_.

Commander Nero sat in the command chair at the bridge of the Prowler, watching space move along on the main view window while his crew, the bridge crew. Him and said crew were the only ones who manned the prowler. He stared out, then. "Activate cloaking field and engage heat sinks. Communications. We're going dark people."

"Yes, Commander." The shipboard AI, Vector Alpha, replied.

The Prowler was soon enveloped in an Active Camoflage blanket and the internal heat sinks would keep the ship cool as space while the AvCam was active, the engines were put onto low burn and their communications array was shut down.

The Prowler moved along, using its gained momentum to keep up its speed as it closed on the planet, it was green with blue, splotches of cloud… you'd almost assume it was Earth. But the Commander knew it wasn't, the landmasses were different, not enough water and there were at least eighty-five ships in orbit over it.

"Found em," Nero muttered, narrowing his eyes. "Get me a read on how many ships we're dealing with."

"Right away, Commander." Operations replied, working furiously. Moments later, "Sir, we read eighty-seven ships in orbit." the officer said, "And five more incoming at range, looks like they're fortifying the planet."

"Or getting a battle group ready," Nero countered. "Can you get a read of what's on the planet's surface?"

"No sir, we'd have to get closer."

"So lets," Nero replied. "Vector, move us in."

The Prowler used a microburst to accelerate forward, when it was just under eight hundred meters from the other ships of the fleet, another pair stopped it and the Prowler froze in place. So close they could see in detail most of the ship closest to them. "Perfect. Alright, get a reading now?" Nero asked.

"Sir, scanning. Might take awhile,"

Two minutes ticked by, then three. On the fourth Operations spoke up.

"Scans relatively complete. I'm detecting multiple groundside generators, power plants if I had to guess. Looks like this planet is a colony or their homeworld."

Nero shook his head. "Not their homeworld. Their ships have tech beyond a species that wouldn't have expanded beyond their homeworld by now. This is a colony, I'm sure of it." he raised a hand to his chin and gave a thoughtful hum.

Their mission was the follow the enemy craft and then drop a single Slipspace Com Probe to mark its location. The Slipspace com probe acted on a timer and when the count reached zero it would sent its exact coordinates in a communication through a mini Slipspace transmission to the Atlas back over Earth. This would expose the probes location of course, but its job would be done. The location and coordinates would be sent.

And then entire battle group could make a mass Slipspace jump and appear right on the enemies store step with guns blazing. The ultimate ambush.

"Bring up the Tactical Map, Vector." Nero said, making up his mind to do more than what his mission required of him. How could he not? His brother had been an engineer aboard the _Final Say _and that was why he had volunteered for this mission. As a Prowler he couldn't fight, but he could damn well make sure that when the UNSC came to kick down these things front door it would be in so great a fashion that they'll feel it all the way back in their homeworld.

He owed his brother that much.

The TacMap was displayed for him. Showing a general overhead view of the enemy fleet formation. "Alright, fire the nuke here…" he tapped the map. The spot was highlighted. "Set its detonation timer to ten seconds before the Slipspace Com probe fires its location. That should give the fleet enough time to jump in and avoid the burst of EMP."

The probe itself would be safe since it was hardened against EMP bursts.

"Probe away…" a moment later. "Missile away." Operations looked at him. "Mission complete sir."

The Commander nodded. "Alright, turn us around, take us out to three thousand and then sent send word back to the fleet via Tight Beam. Tell them we'll remain station in this system to observe the enemy fleet."

"Aye, Commander."

Now, all Nero could do was wait and watch when the fireworks began. And he had a front row seat.

**End of Chapter Five**

**Welp, there's Chapter Five. As of Six operation: SUNDOWN will commence and the First contact war will have unofficially officially begun! Now, you know the drill people, comments, compliments, suggestions? PM or review. Have a nice day/night. Also, yes. Rtas Vadum is now Rtas 'Ter Vadum, Imperial Admiral of the Sangheili Empire! Give Half-jaw a round of applause for his appearance and promotion!**


	7. Chapter six

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

_**Author Notes: Now, I wasn't sure how Turians named their ships, "HWS" "MSV" or whatever the like, wiki doesn't say. So I went with HWS, meaning Hierarchy War-Ship. Nor how they labelled times… or days. Kinda stumped me on that, so, went with cycles, excluded days and yeaaaaah. **_

_**PS. For those curious, Falcus is the world where Eden Prime should have been, essentially, Turians now have Eden Prime. Why? Well, you'll see later.**_

**Chapter Six**

**Turian Colony Falcus, 2148. Council Calendar.  
HWS **_**Enforcer**_**, **_**Dreadnaught**_**-Class. Fleet Commander Vyrenus. 21:00 Cycles.  
**Vyrenus watched as five more ships joined them in orbit over the colony of Falcus. One of the Hierarchy's more secluded Colonies but nonetheless well defended because of the richness of the planet. Its soil was ripe for various forms of plant life and its fields home to many herd animals. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. It was a shining example of the galaxy's most beautiful worlds.

And now it was at risk.

As of twenty-seven cycles ago one of the Hierarchy's patrol fleets had detected activity from a dormant relay on the opposite end of the system. They had kept their distance and observed what came through, five ships had come through. One dreadnaught and four Destroyers by their sizes. They had been bulky, slow moving craft. Turtles.

Intelligence gathered from the patrol suggested they used forward guns, the ships designs had suggested that much. They were moving from one of the planets and were just passing in the shadow of its moon when the Commander of the ship had decided to launch the first attack on these unknowns vessels as per the Citadel Law concerning the activation of dormant relays without explicit permission from the council directly or one of the top three government forces.

The Commander had tried to hail them, but they had ignored it. One of the ships had been fleeing the battle, from the ships profile it had been deemed a civilian vessel, less weapons and more windows.

While the patrol fleet had them outnumbered. The Commander had done the wise move and set up an ambush, it said wonders about how primitive those whales were if their sensors hadn't picked up the patrol fleet until only after they had fired.

The resulting battle, according to the reports filed from the survivors said the opening of the battle had been going extremely well. The Commander's more nimble ships had flown circles around the slower craft crippling two in the first pass and destroying one in the second wave before coming around for another. It was textbook combat against a slower opponent.

That was until the Dreadnaught of the group had opened fire with a series of turret mounted kinetic Cannons that destroyed two Frigates and would have taken the third had it not been for the mobility of the craft. Still, they had it outnumbers and it was the only left. It should have been a victory.

Instead, the enemy had used a nuclear weapon, obliterating a Dreadnaught and a Frigate.

Council Law had forbid Nuclear weapons as well from being used in space or on the ground. These unknowns had broken two laws in less than twelve cycles! After that, the Commander of the remaining Frigates pulled back and retreated to Falcus to inform the Hierarchy. The enemy ship hadn't pursued, likely to regroup with its own allies elsewhere. A Corvette was stationed near the Relay as a watchdog to inform Falcus Command when they came through. They'd have an early warning when the enemy presented themselves. Assuming they didn't attack in the next four cycles orders from Palavan were to go through the Relay and find the system they retreated to, if none were found. Then it would speak volumes about the idiocy of this species in its disregard for caution.

"Commander," One of his communications operators called. "The last of the reinforcements have arrived. The _Vigilant_ reports the Relay is still clear."

Vyrenus nodded. Good, so, they were still licking their wounds or, like the Hierarchy to them, didn't know where to strike to ensure a decisive victory. It was times like this that Vyrenus wished they Hierarchy would allow the Salarians to lend their aid in the form of an STG stealth craft to attempt to find their system. But, Palavan command had been clear this was a policing action only and it was to reinforce that the Turians were the military dominant species for a reason.

"Connect me to the sub-fleet Commanders." Vyrenus ordered, standing straight and getting himself to address his The Sub-Fleet Commanders. Sub-Fleet Commanders were Commanders of other Dreadnaughts but didn't have Operation control like Vyrenus did. They would serve as his various Lieutenants instead during the operation.

"You're on, Commander."

"Commanders, I'm glad you've all arrived quickly. I'm sure you've all been briefed by Command so I'll skip that part. Twenty-seven cycles ago Palavan Command issued us orders to begin defensive preparation for possible hostilities from the unknown species who accesses the local relay." The Fleet Commander explained as he placed his hand behind his back. He straightened his back a bit more. "Failing that in the next four cycles well we will be sending scout ships to find their system and we here will march on their planet and are to occupy it and pacify the population. Using that as leverage to force them into submission."

His mandibles twitched, the idea of taking an entire planet hostage to force submission was a low blow, but it was effective and had proven so in past conflicts. Sides against Krogan who'd shoot down their allies along with the enemy.

"So, Sub-Fleet Commanders, finalize your formations now, when we move out, I want orderly formations and all hands at battle ready status. If you aren't already," he sniffed. "You probably shouldn't be in this fleet."

That got a few chuckles from the Sub-Commanders, of course they were all ready for battle. When the Turians conduct a military, or policing action, they don't make such gross oversights as to be not ready even though they were in their own territory.

Vyrenus was impressed with the amount of ships the Hierarchy had sent to join in this Operation. Ninety-four ships, nine of which were Dreadnaughts, forty-two Frigates and fifty Corvettes and two Carriers. Each Carrier holding at least two hundred Fighter craft each, but they lacked any real firepower so they'd be at the dead center of the overall fleet formation, protected and useful. The Frigates and Corvettes would also have to be placed accordingly to provide the best possibly fields of fire for an incoming enemy presence.

If things went according to plan this conflict would be over within the next twenty cycles.

That was the last thing Fleet Commander Vyrenus thought before a little pinprick of light erupted from the middle of his of still organizing fleet. The pinpricks burned white hot, blinding those closest to them before their kinetic barriers shattered, their hulls burned and peeled away as if wax against a blowtorch and soon the skeletal frame beneath followed.

The Eezo cores breached then detonated.

Fleet Commander Vyrenus and a third of his tightly packed fleet were vaporized as the SHIVA warhead detonated.

**January 13, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC **_**Infinity**_**-Class Command Ship **_**Daedalus**_**, Prometheus System. 0190 Hours.  
**There were many things the UNSC would remember for years to come and more were coming. But four hours ago another had been added to the list the moment when the fleet of eighty-nine had been joined by the second _Infinity_-Class ship in the fleet, the _Daedalus_. Unlike the _Infinity_ which had been designed and then only added with Forerunner tech later on over the years of its construction the _Daedalus_ was designed and incorporated the most Forerunner technology of any ship in the UNSC fleet. Even _Infinity_ couldn't boast such an achievement. Construction had started on Daedalus in 2560 and had been completed in 2581. This would be its first appearance to the public and Fleet.

As it exited Slipspace. It dwarfed every ship it flew past, the silvery-grey surface shone in Prometheus' sun. Across its hull in dark lettering was "UNSC Daedalus" and on the other side "For thy Mantle upheld."

The ship was large, it exuded power with its mere presence. At fifty eight hundred and eleven meters in length, nine hundred and seven in width and finally eleven hundred and fifty-eight in height. It was larger than Infinity in every dimension. The frame was Titanium A and the outer hull was made of 3 meters of Titanium A3 plating with another 2.5 meters of Forerunner designed hull material, the marines just called it Titanium AF plating. Giving it a total of 5.5 meters of armor plating. It was EMP shielded, strong and had an off silvery-grey glow in the sun.

It was also powered by the latest XR3 BF: S90 Reactor. Much more powerful than the XR2 BG Core the _Infinity_ had on her. She was faster, had more power to spare and that all went into her various weapons systems. Like the latest Destroyers, the _Daedalus_ was armed with particle projectors. The forward cannon was a Mark Two Particle Accelerator. The beam was more concentrated then the ones mounted on the Destroyers, more akin to the _Infinity_'s forward MAC guns. The narrower beam however increased the core temperature of the beam itself resulting in temperatures three times as hot as plasma torpedoes.

The beam essentially fired trillions of tiny pieces of hardlight inside its firing chamber, gathering them up before firing them so fast the pieces appear as a singular long beam. They shredded, burned and carved whatever they hit. And _Daedalus_ had two of these mounted on her bow. She also had over eighty Mark 2488 MAC turrets placed across her. And nine hundred 80mm Gatling Point-Defense guns. She had a payload of five Nuclear HAVOK missiles along with enough standard issue Howler, Archer and Rapier missiles to blanket large surfaces of a planet with ordnance. She had Energy shielding covering her hull for a second layer of defense. And she even made use of Reactive Hard-Light Barrier defense grids as well.

She carried enough vehicles, ranging from Mongoose to Mammoths to fill two decent sized UNSC Destroyer hangers to the brim. And over twenty- two thousand personnel, a good portion of that being marines and an ODST division along with several Spartan Fireteams. Unlike _Infinity_ which was supposed to double as an exploration and science ship, the _Daedalus_ had been designed fully as a war ship. All science facilities had been removed from planning to make room for added troop barracks and officers quarters. There was hardly any unused space left on the ship. It was so large it required several trams and lifts to get from one point to the next.

The _Daedalus_ was indeed a terrifying beauty. And she would be heading up this Operation.

"Admiral Lasky, we've exited slipspace." Navigations Officer Lieutenant Vance spoke up. "Joining the rest of the fleet now sir, they've saved us a spot."

Admiral Thomas Lasky, former Captain of the UNSC _Infinity_ until just a month ago when he was reassigned by CentCom to Captain the _Daedalus_. Born on the month of August in 2510 and attended Corbulo Academy for Military Sciences. His family had a strong sense of military service, his mother and brother both having served in the UNSC before their deaths. He was one of the most decorated men alive in the UNSC today.

At Seventy-one and Admiral, he was one of the few inside the UNSC that despite his age has managed to remain as a Captain of a ship rather than sit back at Earth behind a desk or in retirement. His empathetic and fair attitude well liked by the crew of the _Infinity_ and those he had served with.

"Very good, Lieutenant Vance." Lasky said, sitting up in his chair. The dark hair around his head was just beginning to grey and his face showed his age, but his eyes were still bright with life. He was frowning slightly, though more about the current situation than anything that was wrong with the crew. "Bring us to the head of the fleet now. Have the second and third flank fleets form up on our right, the first and fourth to our left. The Destroyers with Hardlight shielding up front. I want the other ships to take up arrow formations behind them."

"Making it happen, Admiral." His communications Officer replied, typing furiously as his console.

"Navigations, put the countdown timer to the operation on my tablet." He paused when the doors to the bridge opened and in marched Captain MacMillan. "Captain, when I heard you were assigned to my ship I almost didn't believe it was you." Lasky smile and returned the salute that MacMillan gave him while he had been speaking.

"Admiral Lasky," MacMillan greeted, the edges of his lips twitching slightly. "Last I saw you, you were still just a Vice Admiral commanding _Infinity, _how is the old girl?"

MacMillan had served with Lasky on seven separate occasions during the years of 2559 across 2564 in putting down insurrectionist activity when they tried to spark up again, Infinity had destroyed twenty asteroid bases used by the Insurrection at that point. The UNSC had then poured more funding into the outer colonies, increasing pay and along with various production yards for civilian vehicles. Creating more job opportunities.

By the time 2567 rolled around, Insurrectionist activity dropped to an all time low while the outer colonies prospered. The last major Insurrectionist attack was two years ago.

"Last I saw her, she's fine." Lasky replied with a good natured laugh. "She better still be, I find out that Captain they gave her in my stead ain't taking care of her I'll have to have words with him."

They both laughed for a moment before they were silent.

"Right, Captain. We'll have to catch up later, for now. I need you commanding my troopers when we jump. _Daedalus_ will be carving a path down to the planet. You and the troopers will be going feet first. Secure us a landing zone so we can start dropping vehicles and troops." Lasky explained.

MacMillan nodded, "Right, sir. Don't worry, we'll clear the table for you and the others." he replied simply, then added. "Rules of Engagement?"

"I don't want Civilian casualties, if they're a military outpost, shoot whatever looks military uniform, but no children or women." He said, expression firm. "Clear?"

"Sir, clear. I'll try my best." MacMillan snapped off a salute. He knew of Lasky's tight moral leash, it was one of the many things that made him popular with the public and general troopers alike. Some took it as naivety, but MacMillan knew better, Thomas wasn't naïve, he just didn't see the point in doing something if it was morally incorrect.

"Please do," Admiral Lasky nodded. "Now, get down to the drop bays. Operation commences in nine minutes… and it's a two minute tram ride and three minute lift ride." Lasky smiled.

"Of course sir," MacMillan turned and marched out, just muttering a "cheeky bastard" before the doors closed behind him.

With the ODST gone Lasky turned back to the viewing screen and observed on the TacMap as the fleet got into formation. A good seventy-five ships, plus the Daedalus made it seventy-six. The ships moved into their assigned formations. The Destroyers and Cruisers with Hard-Light shielding took the front waves. Those without moved behind and clustered closer to each other.

"Mmm," A sensual voice purred over the bridge speakers. Lasky looked up.

"Finally awake, Lilith?" Lasky joked, smiling slightly as the avatar of the seventh generation Smart AI, Lilith appeared on the holopad next to him. He looked at her.

Lilith's avatar was wrapped in a black fabric that hung off her shoulders and clung to her voluptuous frame, her wrists were adorned with shackles as were her ankles. Her face was young, striking and hair flowing down to the small of her back.

When Lasky asked why she chose such an avatar. She had replied that her form was to show the utter beauty of being a Smart AI, able to think so fast it made the smartest humans slow and the shackles represented the limited time they lived and that like all things they were shackled to mortality.

"I never sleep, my dear Admiral Lasky," she teased, flicking a wrist the TacMap was highlighted, she turned to it, eyes moving over the formation. "Hmm, very nice. I do so love seeing men and woman fall into formation."

Lasky had long since gotten used to Lilith's persona. She was already a year old and designed specifically for use with _Daedalus_. Despite her rather… provocative personality she was a fine asset to have. She handled Point-Defense, Cyberwarfare and Slipspace jump calculations. Lasky wouldn't trade her for another.

"Yeah, well, too bad it's a formation for war," Lasky muttered, sighing softly before raising an aging hand to massage his temples a bit. "What's the timer looking at?"

"Six minutes till the Operation," Lilith informed him. She tilted her head and frowned a bit. "Hmph, Only seventy-six ships? For something like this you'd think they'd send more." she commented dryly.

"Don't forget the Strident Frigates sitting in our belly, Lilith," Lasky pointed with a smile. "Technically its eighty-six."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Semantics."

"Whatever you say," Lasky laughed lowly, then coughed, raising a hand to his mouth he coughed twice more, then sighed and muttered. "Old age sucks."

"Least you'll live to see past eight, My dear Admiral," Lilith said, crossing her arms under her chest and giving him a cocked brow. "Course, I'll look just as beautiful by the time my day comes," she teased him.

Lasky smiled. "Lucky you."

"Four minutes, Admiral." Navigations reported. "Standing by to receive _Unseen Dagger_'s Slipspace coordinates for the jump now."

"Alright," Lasky stood and walked over to the forward Holopad. "I assume you've been reading up on our new friends, Lilith?" he asked while he stood in at the foot of the Holomap.

"But of course," Lilith sang lowly. "Majestic sent a very detailed report from the Atlas, I gave him my utmost thanks." she purred.

Lasky raised a brow, wanted to ask… but didn't. "Good," he said simply. "Thoughts?"

"Many, but for specifics of our new enemy? With _Daedalus_ here, I think they're going to regret ever staring at us," Lilith replied with a brief chuckle. "Honestly, I'll need more data before I come to speculate on this species. Majestic, while crude… is mostly right, they appear smart, militaristic and know when to run." she waved a hand. "Anything else we'll learn by the end of this."

"Socialising with the locals," Lasky whispered. "How nice."

Lilith smiled coyly. "I love socialising."

"Bet you do," Lasky smiled and then looked to the timer. Two minutes left. "Alright, send out a general call to the fleet, inform them to prep for Slipspace jump." He ordered, placing his hands behind his back.

"At once, Admiral." Communications replied.

"One minute," Lilith purred, sounding excited… well, more so excited.

Lasky counted down the seconds in his head, staring into space. Finally, at zero his navigations officer's console pinged. They had received the coordinates and were cleared to jump. "Alright, commence slipspace jump, Lilith. Bring us in right on top of them." he ordered sharply.

Lilith purred. "With pleasure, Admiral."

The _Daedalus_ accelerated forward as the space before them parted into the silver-blue portal that was Slipstream space that only a Forerunner engine could produce. The ships behind the _Infinity_-Class followed them through their own slipspace portals. Once inside Slipstream space, Lasky watched the show from his standing position.

"Estimated time of arrival?" Lasky asked.

"Four minutes." Lilith replied, then raised her hand and tapping her lower lip with a finger. "Well, three minute and forty seven seconds to be precise when I'm done speaking."

"Alright." Lasky waited patiently.

A minute or so later they exited Slipspace.

And right outside an enemy fleet, which appeared to be scrambling to move out of the way as the larger _Daedalus_ appeared. The shields sparked as they impacted A Destroyer class vessel that was too slow to move, the smaller vessel didn't stall _Daedalus_ at all and instead shattered without a thought, others were clipped as the _Infinity_-Class ship ran them down as if they were nothing but wooden planks trying to stop a bulldozer.

"I think we hit something," Lilith joked softly, her shoulders shaking as if in actual mirth.

"Launch Stridents." Lasky ordered.

"Doors opening." Lilith replied with a smile.

The belly of the _Daedalus_ opened and then five by two lines of _Strident_-Class Frigates dropped from the belly of the beast and joined the fray of combat, surprising the ships that witnessed it… before being fired upon by the newly released ships.

"Lilith," Lasky said, watching the TacMap light up as the enemy craft who were further in distance turn to face the number of enemies suddenly appearing from other jump exits.

"Yes, Admiral?" Lilith replied, hand on her hip and the other resting at her side.

"You have the guns."

Lilith smiled in that coy manner she loved. "I'll give the enemy a show they'll never forget." she purred.

The _Daedalus_' various Onagar automated defense MACs powered up and began firing at nearby ships with singular, precise rounds, taking one round to shatter the shields of the opposing vessels, a second to finish them off. Often times, Lilith used a strategy, she used two turrets to fire, operating them in such a way that they fired in pairs at a single target, the larger Cruisers took three rounds to break down and one to finish off.

When the rest of the fleet arrived, they opened fire with their MAC guns on the targets dead ahead. A wave of high velocity slugs was the opening salvo.

She bit her lip slightly. "My, so many flying at us despite our overwhelming force. They're very brave." she smiled. "But… bravery will not avail them, will it, my dear Admiral?"

"No," Lasky replied softly as he observed the ships get mowed down by the charging Daedalus. "All ships! Break off formation and engage targets at will!" Lasky said, knowing he was connected to the ship. "If the enemy breaks off from the battle. Do not pursue, keep them on scope and when they're out of weapons range. We want them to make it back to their central command and tell them what we've done."

This was a show of force, not brutality. No civilian casualties, no pointless shootdowns.

A number of affirmatives replied to his orders as the fleet broke off into smaller parties when the two fleets got mixed together at knife fighting range. Hulls were peppered by the unknown crafts pinpoint lasers, however, the ships were outnumbered and a large portion of them had already gone down during the initial MAC salvo.

"Navigations, break us off and head down to the planet. Get us into dropping distance for the Helljumpers." Lasky ordered the holoprojector shifted and showed the planet they were headed to. "Lilith, find me three military installations and two major populations centers." he said.

"Trying to make me work, Admiral?" Lilith replied, smirking. "Don't worry, I'll humor you."

A moment then the _Daedalus_ was breaching the atmosphere. "Got them, detecting two major city within the next fifty kilometres. Here… and here." the map pinged with two white checkpoints. "And military installations, likely… are here." several different locations across the fifty kilometre radius. "Guess they were right, Militaristic race."

"Right, send thee locations of those military installations to the _Shakedown_, _Yorkanville_, _Freelancer_, _Destiny_ and _Bureaucracy_." Lasky listed the Marathon Cruisers who had been participating in the operation. "Tell them to strafe these installations with light fire, then land occupation troops."

"As you wish, Admiral." Lilith replied smoothly.

"Now, brings us over this population center." He tapped the closest city. "Inform Captain MacMillan that he and the ODSTs are dropping fifteen seconds."

"Done, Admiral."

The Daedalus cleared the atmosphere, swooped down and when they were over the major city. "Drop them."

Across the Daedalus' belly, small hatches open and allowed a hundred or so pods eject and fall towards the city below. Each contained an ODST who was gearing for a fight and waiting to hit the ground to get it started. Behind them, several Pelicans launched from the hangers carrying M12 LRVs, or Warthogs, at least thirty of them deployed, each would also have a small ten man team of marines inside their bays.

Around them, AA guns began to open fire on the descending forces. A lot of AA. This colony was well defended.

"We're clear." Lilith reported simply, flicking some of her data streamed black hair. "Are we going to return to the battle overhead while our ground forces work?" she asked.

"Yes, bring us back up into space." Lasky nodded.

"Aye, Admiral." Navigations arced the ship back up towards the atmosphere.

"Time to let the grunts go to work," Lasky whispered with a sign. "Bring us back up into orbit, Navigations."

"Aye, Admiral!"

The _Daedalus_' engines flared again and they accelerated upwards back towards space to rejoin the battle. Small plumes of flame and molten metal signaled the destruction of a UNSC ship, it had been an older destroyer, its remains floated off as the five ships that had been attacking it saw the Daedalus coming back up.

They turned to face the new threat.

"Foolish," Lilith said, eyes narrowing. "I have target locks, Admiral. Permission to use the main guns?"

"Granted." Lasky allowed her to have her fun as the enemy formation, headed by two larger ships and three Frigates accelerated towards them.

The _Daedalus_' main guns glowed a soft orange deep within the barrels… then like two rapier strikes lashed across space and sliced the two leading ships, their shields flickered into place, shattered a moment later and the two beams cut into the hull and then clean through the ships, skewering them.

The _Infinity_-Class ship turned and continued to fire and like Sangheili Plasma Swords skewered two more Frigates and nicking one before the guns reached dangerous heat levels. The two ships exploded and the _Daedalus_ drove through their debris fields as the main guns ceased firing.

The other two Frigates who had likely thought they escaped exploded when Lilith used the Onager MAC turrets to turn them into fireworks.

"Enemy forces are breaking off from ours," Communications relayed to Lasky. "No craft are pursuing, looks like we've won."

Lasky watched the remaining enemy craft break off their various engagements and move at speed away from the planet. The Admiral regretted the loss of life on both sides, but it couldn't have been avoided. Now he just hoped this was the right move and not the opening moves to a full scale war. All he could do as an Admiral was pray he was doing the right thing and trust his gut.

"Have the fleet regroup, count our lost ships and any escape pods in space, I want them retrieved." Lasky ordered as he leaned back into his command chair.

One battle one, the next has to be won on the ground.

**End of Chapter Six**

**Well, there's chapter six. And Operation: SUNDOWN has begun! As you can see, Turian nor UNSC don't mess around when its time to get stuff done. Now, you all know the drill, have a nice day/night.  
**


	8. Chapter seven

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Seven**

**January 13, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC **_**Infinity**_**-Class Command Ship **_**Daedalus**_**, Unknown system. 0400 Hours.  
**The battle in space had gone as planned, too much as planned. Lasky was getting a bad feeling that an operation in space had gone so smoothly that he was worried about the ground troops he sent dirtside to secure a series of LZs for them to set down occupation vehicles to further increase their presence on the ground.

But before he could worry anymore, he had to manage the situation up here. The unknown hostile fleets had pulled back and upon realising that Lasky didn't pursue them past the established twenty kilometre marker he set up for the occupation fleet, they were now patrolling along the invisible line that they should not cross. Of the seven dozen of so ships that Lasky had seen, only twenty-three, four of which were critically damaged and had to be scuttled shortly after they reached the line. Leaving only nineteen ships.

He had to admit, this species knew its stuff. They had quickly found out how close he was willing to allow them in just two hours and had effectively began to patrol along the border of it. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they roved around the planet at cruise speed while Lasky's fleet moved as three schools of sharks around said planet in high orbit, acting as border patrol.

He could feel them waiting for any sort of opening, a too large gap to exploit to send their ship in close and try to flank one of the patrol fleets.

Of course, for the ships destroyed, Lasky did suffer his own casualties. He had lost twelve Frigates outright in the initial scramble to enemy combined fire at near point blank range and five more were severely damaged while another fifteen were currently running EVA repairs on themselves while they were on patrol, naturally, the Daedalus took most of the damaged ships into its fleet and sent over some handy Huragok to aid in the internal repairs of the Frigates since Daedalus itself had suffered no noteworthy damage.

This species had certainly tried to give what it got. And it succeeded in making Lasky more alert to the threat they posed.

"Enemy fleet position, Lilith?" Lasky asked as he examined the holoprojector, repair rates for the damaged fleet ships was displayed along with estimation times before completion, Huragok deployment numbers.

"Still holding at two hundred and fifty thousand kilometres, my dear Admiral," The Smart AI replied smoothly, appearing on her stand beside his command chair. "They're keeping formation, we're a pack of lions and they're Jackals waiting for an exploit. What makes them think we won't turn and blast them?"

"They know better, saw the signs." Lasky replied simply.

It was true, standing orders when they saw unarmed ships leaving the planet below had been to allow any civilian ships to leave the planet, if they were just taking off and there was a chance to disable them? That was to be done. However, the moment they hit lethal altitude they were free to go.

"Now, they're just waiting for reinforcements or for us to screw up." Lasky muttered, observing the numbers. "Status on groundside communications?"

"Still down, Admiral." Lilith said with a bit of a sigh. "Must be bad down there."

Lasky nodded. "Yeah, but we can't break away to provide support, it would leave many of the wounded ships here vulnerable, and we can't risk sending down any ships from the other two fleets just yet." he mumbled, shaking his head. "We'll send down more Pelicans when communications are established."

"Aye, admiral." Lilith nodded.

"I hope we're not getting into anything too big down there." Lasky whispered.

"It may also interest you to know I'm detecting traces of radiation common with nuclear detonation," Lilith said suddenly, as if speaking about the weather. When Lasky looked at her, she shook her head. "Not from any of our fleet, the radiation dispersion indicates it had detonated moments before we arrived, it could explain why the enemy fleet was moving out of its cluster formation when we arrived… they had been struck by a nuke." she paused. "If I had to guess, a SHIVA class warhead."

"SHIVA, huh?" Lasky mumbled, and before they launched? Only meant that the _Unseen Dagger _had launched it, probably as a pre-emptive strike method to make things easier for the fleet when they arrived.

But it wasn't cleared by Command and therefore Lasky had to report it. "Lilith, link me to High Command back on the _Atlas_, Fleet Admiral Petrov will want to know about this." he sighed.

"At once, Admiral," Lilith yawned and stared at the planet they were patrolling.

**Turian Colony Falcus, 2148. Citadel Calendar.  
Falcus Capital, Xellis. Quarian Pilgrim Calene Here'zia. 12:50 Cycles.  
**"I ever get my hands on the idiot Bosh'tet who drove this thing…" A female Quarian muttered as she crouched by a aircar she was tasked with repairing by her employer. Most Quarians on Pilgrimage tended to flock to the Citadel or hunt for technology on the edges of the Veil, hoping to gather some useful stuff to return to the Migrant Fleet and be welcomed by a Captain.

That was not the life for Calene, she preferred her freedom and this would be her second full year out on Pilgrimage and she still didn't feel the need to return there. She thought she would become home sick, or miss her family, so far all she felt was content for being free to choose and carve her own path outside of a society that would likely work her to the bone simply because she probably would have found something useful.

Oh, and she was angry at the Turian who drove this aircar in here, the internals were completely outdated! Its like whoever owned this thing didn't believe in stopping by for a checkup because they can last anywhere between one to five years. Ten or more if you took damn good care of it.

But this guy? Nope, not this guy and that made Calene angry because this thing could be five times cleaner and run fifty times smoother if he just dropped in a few years back.

She pulled one of the power couplings free and looked at the slightly smouldered piece of tech. "You're kidding me…" she whispered. The coupling was almost melted, had it done so the electrical currents to the rear drive core would have been severed, and from the lack of a backup core, which she was sure was a safety violation of itself, she had just saved this guys life.

…She really wanted to slide it back into place and just clean the core and other parts, but, her professionalism demanded she not half-ass this. Since it was her only steady job she could get in the Colony, Surprisingly, and very welcomed, the Turian who owned this place was a very open minded person despite being a Turian, so he had hired her on when he had fixed one of the speeders on of his poorly trained Asari were attempting to.

She had quickly proven that, as a Quarian, her skill with tech was unmatched and she damn well knew it. Smouldered to the internal casing coupling? Cut that out and replace it all! Malfunctioning De-thawing windows? Replace the thermal wiring running along the window. Honestly, this was all very basic stuff, but she guessed being an Asari she wasn't used to fixing tech and instead shaking her half naked ass for anyone with a credit.

Calene wasn't mean, she had just described a good portion of the Maiden stage Asari in the galaxy. Centuries of life and they spent the first hundred or so just getting laid and doing nothing productive? Calene couldn't begin to understand that level of carelessness.

"Calene!" She sighed, rubbed her lubricant stained hands on her thighs and stood up, looking at her employer as he stared down at her from his office. "Somethings happening in orbit!" he relayed to her.

She blinked in surprise. She had heard over the Extranet that there had been trouble concerning a local patrol and a fleet was being assembled in case of "unknown aggressors", she had honestly though the Turians were just talking about bold pirates thinking maybe they can make a pass at a local patrol. But… why the fleet?

She turned and rushed outside to see, if anything at all since they were in orbit.

What she saw was a bright flash of light… it grew to a pinhead in size… then faded.

She had seen those before, lights that big spotted from ground despite being in space? That had to be fission styled explosives, or just one. Either way, Nuclear weapons had been outlawed by the council for their massive collateral damage, both during and after the explosion. Radiation damage aside, they were horrid weapons that took decades to clean up.

And one had just been detonated over the colony.

"What's happening?"

"A nuclear weapon…" Calene replied in a whisper. "Someone detonated a nuclear weapon in orbit."

"Sprits…" her boss looked skywards, they stood there as others joined them, looking above and wondering what was happening and in moments they came.

Small smoke trails lead by flaming debris, ship pieces burning up as they fell to ground. She couldn't see them precisely, but something told her they weren't the ships that the Turian fleet were preparing to fight against.

"Should we get to the shelters?" Calene asked, turning to her boss who was still staring with eyes wide and mandibles spread in shock. "Kallus!"

"Yeah," he snapped out of it, shaking his head. "We probably should."

He turned away and Calene made to follow him. Then a woman screamed, grabbed her child and ran for the nearest speeder. That forced the pair to look up again.

A ship, so huge it parted the clouds before it and slid down towards the planet. It was massive! It could have been a piece of the Citadel for how massive it was! And it was coming straight for Xellis.

"Keelah…" Calene whispered, taking a step back as she watched it descend. If that thing crashed here, the impact force alone would do half the city or more in, its body would probably drag along, flattening anything that got in its way.

"We can't hide from that…" Kallus muttered, hanging his head.

And then, the ship pulled up. It pulled up and began to pass over the city. It wasn't crashing! The thing was flying in atmosphere at that size?! "It's that big… and can operate in Atmosphere?" Kallus called over the sounds of rising panic.

She shared his astonishment. Easily.

Several hundred hatches appeared across the belly of the large ship and moments later each spat out a small black object that sped down, at first she thought they were bombs, that they were going to bomb the city.

But when the AA guns stationed around Xellis began to fire at them, they moved along, one of them took a burst and exploded, they weren't bombs, if they were that would have been more impressive.

One impacted a skyscraper, slamming through the window and walls where it disappeared. She tracked another, it slammed two blocks down, clipping an aircar along the way. She looked up in time to see two crash through the roof of their aircar repair station and into the building itself, the ground thundered with their impacts.

She and Kallus, likely against both their better judgements, moved to see what had fallen. They found a device, a pod, and before they could get closer the hatch of the first hissed and popped off, They watched as a black armored bipedal form stepped out, its body entirely covered by black and gray plating and undersuit. It regarded them a moment, its soft blue visor on them before it turned and reached into the pod, withdrawing a single long barrelled weapon from it and shouldering it.

The second pod opened, and another figure stepped out, tapping the side of his head to likely try and clear it of disorientation after being dropped from Keelah knew how high! The second didn't bother looking at them and instead just pulled a smaller weapon from the pod, then a larger weapon, some sort of heavy weapon.

It placed that onto its back, shouldered the smaller one and the pair shared a small muffled conversation, her translator couldn't make out the words, she caught a few here and therte but she doubted they were switching between old Asari, retro Turian and ancient Drell and a dozen or so unknown languages.

And then, the local law enforcement showed up!

She and Kallus barely got words out before the officers opened fire on the pair of aliens, who quickly took cover and returned their own bouts of fire. Calene dove, why? She wasn't near the action, but, she dove. And Kallus reached for a wrench attempted to help the officers.

The one with the long barrelled rifle saw this, turned her rifle to Kallus and with the roar of a shot the unshielded Turian fell back onto the floor with a sizeable chunk of his face missing. The officers doubled their efforts and Calene covered her head and ducked behind the aircar she had been repairing.

Soon, the fighting stopped, she looked up and over the car and saw the two officers laying by their transport car, bloodied and dead. The two aliens? They exchanged a gesture where they bumped fists and raised their weapons again.

This time, at her.

She stood up and raised her empty hands in a gesture of non-violence she hoped translated to them as "I am not a threat!" and not "I'm charging my death ray!"

They stared at her, one shook its head and together they moved into the back of the building and disappeared into the back alley.

Calene fell to her knees, heart hammering and counting the blessings the Ancestors bestowed upon this day.

**January 13, 2582. Military Calendar.  
Major population zone, Orbital Drop Shock Trooper 22nd contingent. 0200 Hours prior.  
**Shepard groaned, his head pounded and he was fairly sure he might have a concussion, he wasn't a medic though so he wasn't entirely sure. All that he knew is that he hurt _everywhere_. Around him, he could hear commotion, unfamiliar voices speaking complete gibberish, kinda like the first time he heard French as a kid, made no sense to him.

He remembered the drop. The _Daedalus_ had gone in low for a pass over of the nearest population center, apparently they were to drop in and secure local landing zones for Pelicans to send down more gear. The _Daedalus_ had also launched a few Pelicans with hogs and marines down after them for good measure.

But, John's Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Entry Vehicle, or more commonly known, HEV, had taken some Anti-Air fire from a local turret and got pinged off course.

What followed was the single most jarring experience of his life next to his first date back in high school. He had "thumped" off one of the cities skyscrapers and through a neighbouring buildings structure, where he guessed he was now jammed into the top or second top floor of after scaring their occupants silly.

And said occupants might now be trying to access his pod.

There was a muffled growl, then, several thuds, John muttered something inside his helmet and stared at the metallic floor looking at him through the cracked observation window of his pod. Then, with sudden rumble the pod was rolled onto its side, he quickly fell limp as if he was still out of it from the crash.

Two pairs of feet entered his view from the window. And they were weird, like… slimmer Sangheili feet, it was kinda freaky. Then, several more taps, then one of the aliens got to its knees and its helmeted head came down to peer into the pod. John stare back at its blackened visor, they couldn't see his past his own polarized visor.

It stared a moment before looking over its shoulder and shaking its head. A pause then a pair of oddly shaped rifles were placed against the ground and soon enough his pod door was being wedged open forcefully.

He fished for his M6H, found it and quietly racked one of the 12.8x40mm AP rounds into the chamber. He raised it slightly and waited.

The pod doors were pried open a moment later, the metal clanging against the floor and there stood the adversary. Both were decked in a mixture of blue-red armor, their helmets covered their entire head and ended in long spike up the back. Their bodies were slim, their torsos broad, really freakily built.

No time to think about their physiology now.

M6H raised, he placed the barrel to the first of the aliens visor and pulled the trigger. The round easily smashed through the visor and into the enemies face. The second reached down for his weapon, John moved his arm, fired and blew out its leg, causing him to fall forward face first onto the floor in front of the pod.

John pressed the barrel of his gun to the top of its helmeted head. He fired twice and that's all she wrote.

Unstrapping himself he rolled from his pod, stood and scoped the area over. It appeared to be some sort of office building, there were many desks, no cubicles like on Earth, but a lot of equipment that seemed like computers. He looked down at the two, kicked them each once to confirm the kills.

"Well, they don't got shields," He mumbled behind his helmet, he kneeled down and pulled his MA6K from the pod's weapons bay, chambering a round into that he quickly reloaded his handgun and attached it to his hip.

He ran a quick systems check of his ODST mark. II armor. In the last thirty years ODST armor had gotten greatly appreciated overhaul. The Ballistic gel layer had been strengthened for greater ballistics defense, the hardened plates had also been redesigned to offer the same protection for less weight, they even dispensed plasma damage more effectively so they didn't melt after two blows. The plates also had limited Active Camoflage properties when active, giving an ODST better infiltration capabilities. However, their ballistic suit beneath the plating couldn't cloak, but it was still a step up.

Armor also had a more powerful power pack that recharged itself over time. It was what powered the AvCam and basic energy shielding. While yes, they had shields, they weren't as strong as those mounted on MJOLNIR armor, that would strain the power pack too much, but they could take two, three blows before failing. They just couldn't run while AvCam was active.

He cracked his neck, then when his HUD was fully active again he tried to raise the team. "This is Shepard, anyone reading me?" he spoke, kneeling and moving to a window to peer down at the city streets below.

It was a war zone. Marines and ODSTs mixed units hiding behind crashed vehicles and returning fire from other enemy soldiers in the streets and in the buildings. Plumes of smoke were evident across the skies and more than a few peoples had HEV pod crash signs on their sides.

"_Shepard? Bout time you called in, thought maybe you were dead_," Valerie "Sharps" replied to the com. "_Captain's been out of short range contact for the last twenty minutes, last transmission he told us he would be setting up a rally point at the following location, hold up, sending a Nav Point_…" a pause. "_Now_."

A single NavPoint appeared on his HUD a kilometre North.

"Thanks, wait, short range… where are you?" John asked, raising a brow behind his visor.

Movement behind him, he turned around and raised his MA6K. A squad of seven soldiers entered the floor he was on, they spotted him and one of them barked out something, probably fire orders. And they did open fire. John dove behind his pod, listening to their rounds ping off its shell.

"_I'm around_." Sharps replied simply.

The glass shattered and one of the enemy soldiers who had been trying to move up suddenly fell back as the round struck its Kinetic barrier, shattering it and slamming into his chest, softened by the blow and cracking his chest armor.

Two more advanced, firing suppressing bursts out the window.

Two more rounds whizzed by, the first into their injured buddies' chest cavity, the second into the one closest to the pod. "_I got you covered. Once you're clear I'll get down to you and we can rally the guys downstairs_."

"Got it," John replied, standing and firing a burst with his rifle, spraying the unshielded enemy in the chest with three rounds, bluish blood spurted as the alien fell over, their third ally stepped and ducked behind a desk.

A shot took his shield out, then slammed into the side of his head with a sickening crack. He fell over limp.

"I thought they didn't have shields." He muttered, firing another burst into the barriers of another before ducking down to avoid the return fire a half second later.

"_They do, it's a weird system. The shield is actually seven or so inches around them, like a bubble. And it snaps into place when something comes at them_," Sharps explained. "_Kinda like the Hardlight grid on the Daedalus_."

"So that's why those two didn't have shields up," John whispered. He had been within their envelope and so they didn't have shield covering and so the only thing standing between them and his high powered rounds was armor.

He pulled a Fragmentation Grenade from his belt, primed it and then chucked it over the pod in a best guess throw. A moment later it detonated and he lifted from his cover to survey the damage, the enemy combatants were injured, moving and making odd sounds of pain.

He drew his sidearm. Put one into their heads and moved over to the lift.

He tapped the holographic display, doors closed and he began to descend. That was simple. "I'm on my way down." he reported to Sharps.

"_Me too, see you on the ground_."

**Captain Riley "Slate" MacMillan, 22nd ODST Division.  
**"Hold the goddamn line!"

Captain MacMillan shouted over the blare of gunfire as he let loose an extended burst of rounds from his MA6K. The casings clattered to the ground and he ejected the magazine, inserted a new one before the spent one even touched the ground and racked a round in time with the impact of the empty one.

He and three dozen others had established a foothold inside one of the local buildings, it had once been a bit of a vehicle depot since there was a basement level with load of the hover cars these aliens used to get around. Three floors of real estate had been locked down and now it was one of the primary rally points for the occupation forces that had been sent down.

However, several problems had come up during the brief hour of fighting. First and most troublesome being that long range communications was down so they couldn't contact the fleet overhead for reinforcements or any of the squads who went down to take out the nearby military installations.

Another was that the locals were damned persistant and tricky buggers. In the opening firefights MacMillan and a few others had believed they had the bastards on the run with several hard pushes into the city center. However, before retreating they had set up mines and various ambushes along streets and alleys, from sniper support to fast moving aircars who would strafe them with automatic fire.

They were well trained, they knew the terrain and they were making the most of it if the infirmary on level two was evidence of that.

"Corporal!" MacMillan turned to the marine beside him and the marine, who's hands were shaking just a bit, looked up at him. "Where is our support? I thought you said we'd have air support coming by to strafe the third story of that building!" He gestured to the building across from them, on its third floor were a line of enemy combatants laying down suppressive fire on them and then firing down over the covers of those on the street below.

"I don't know, Captain!" The marine replied. "I got into contact with a pilot saying he'd be here shortly."

As he finished that sentence, a voice came over the com. "_This is Pelican Kilo Five Nine, I'm in the neighbourhood and ready for a target_!"

"Pelican Kilo Five-Nine! This is Captain MacMillan of the 22nd!" MacMillan replied, ducking down to avoid a particularly close hail of rounds to his cover. "I need a strafing run on the third story of the building across from my location. Setting a nav point now." MacMillan did so.

"_I got your location, alright, cover your ears boys, its about to get _loud!"

The tell-tale rumble of a Pelican's engines roared over the gunfire and the enemies on the third story were greeted to the sight of the large grey-black craft as it hovered near the edge of the building. Its 90mm machine gun turret spun up and with the roar of a hellish beast the weapon let loose a stream of rounds that shattered the enemies shields, tore their cover to shreds and their bodies soon afterward. The Pelican drifting right along the entire floor before clearing the building.

Two oddly shaped craft, flimsy looking things, swept around another building and let loose a hail of missiles. The Pelican deftly thrust forward and the swarm of heat-seeking projectiles blew into the building at the left side street as he Pelican blazed away. The two craft, which MacMillan assumed were the enemies own gunships, gave chase.

"_Sorry guys, gotta shake these guys! I'll be back on station when I can_!"

"Copy, Kilo Five-Nine," The Captain replied. "Good luck!"

"_Don't need luck when you're _this_ good! Kilo Five-Nine out_!"

"Alright, time to take some real estate," MacMillan called up the com. "Bullfrogs, I need you on the third story of the next building! Everyone else, covering fire! The frogs on jumping!"

The various marines lifted from their covers and opened fire, spraying automatic and semi-automatic rounds at the enemy positions, forcing them into cover long enough for five of the ODSTs to get a running start and leapt through windows, activating their jump jets and leaping across onto the ruined third story. They landed ad gave the all clear.

"Bullfrogs, you've got the enemies right flank! Drop some grenades on the bastards in the street!"

"Sir," one of the Bullfrogs replied.

With the loss of their unit in the building, the enemies in the street didn't see the frags coming until they had fallen into their midst… and with several detonations their cover couldn't save them now, the Bullfrog ODSTs rained down automatic fire onto them from directly above.

The surprised hostiles looked up and returned fire, suppressing the bullfrogs… but were distracted long enough for two warthogs to roll around the corner. Their mounted turrets revved up and with twin roars of automatic fire they strafed the enemy positions across the street, peppering their cover with rounds .

A few ripped through the lighter cover, follow by the enemies shields and turned whoever they struck into bloody messes. The resulting angles of fire drove the enemy up, they fired suppressing bursts at the hogs and a few more at the windows where they were being upon.

"Rockets out!" A pair of marines hefted two SPNKR launchers and moved over to the windows and aimed down at the two more heavily dug in teams of hostiles. One of them seemed to know what was coming and patted the ones next to him shoulder, they tried to pull out.

The two rockets struck the entrenched teams, some were ground zero at the impact while others were sent flying and landed in prone heaps, unmoving. MacMillan would send teams down there to retrieve the wounded for interrogation later when the surrounding area was secured. The two hogs from before returned after turning further down the road and with some quick parking they were used as turrets to help cover the street.

The street was now a kill zone.

"Sir, we've got reinforcements incoming on Hogs!" The Corporal smiled. "Least three hogs and they're coming in fast!"

MacMillan looked to the street below, the enemy were falling back, realizing their position in the fight wasn't as favourable anymore. He watched them go, then turned back to the Corporal, "Any luck on finding the source of the long range jamming?" he asked.

"None yet, but the distortion gets pretty strong further up north," The Corporal stood and pointed to the largest building in the center of the city. It was a large tower, it was rigid with some curves, line with floors, probably thirty-storeys high if the Captain had to guess with what appeared to be an atrium at the top.

It looked mighty important. And the enemy by all reports kept falling back North towards it. That tower was also surrounded by considerable Anti-Air defenses.

"Hmm," Captain MacMillan hummed as he crossed his arms over his chest, lifted his helmet from his head and pulled a contraband cigar from one of his suits pouches. He lit it and took a drag, then released a puff. "Corporal, see if you can't raise me Delta-Seven."

"Sir?"

"Tell them," He took another drag and puff. "I have a mission for em."

**Second Lieutenant Marcus "Beef" Brant, 22nd ODST Regiment.  
**The Lieutenant kicked the body of a down combatant over, the holes in its helmet and body along with the amount blood around it told the three ODSTs it was good and dead. "Right, nothing here," he said, lifting his MA6K back up to his shoulder. "Lets move out." He took a step, and paused when he thought he heard something.

A moment of silence passed over the three as they observed the surroundings of the small single storey building they had taken shelter inside of. Then, came a soft whimper. The three raised their weapons slightly, turning to a closed vent cover.

Marcus raised a fist, gesturing the two to cover him while he checked it out. They nodded, keeping their weapons levelled with the vent while Marcus moved forward, kneeling down he attached his rifle to his back and grasped the edges of the covering. With a tug he pulled it free with a click.

"Fu-"

An explosion shattered his shielding and sent him flying hard into the opposite wall of the room they were inside as pain lanced up and down his body, he coughed inside his helm and stared at the ceiling through his cracked visor as gunfire rang out, it sounded distant… but he knew it was inside the room. He turned his head, spotting one of the other ODSTs falling back into the hall when four more of the aliens burst in through the hole created by the explosion that had knocked Marcus flat on his ass.

The second ODST's shields flared under fire then shattered. As they did, the soldier's MA6K clicked empty, he dropped it and pulled his sidearm and pulled it half free from his holster when one of the aliens fired a burst into his face, the ODST helmet caved and the man crumpled against the wall and slid down to the floor. Dead.

The second called something out, reached down for a grenade on his belt.

He didn't see the short barrelled weapon raised at the back of his head before it turned it to paste inside the front of his helmet. Slumping down, Marcus watched the body fall until it thudded against the floor…

His sense returned in time to hear the seven aliens conversing, two keeping their weapons trained on him. The leader, while the others were decked insimple uniforms of matching colors, this one was decked in yellow, red and black colored armor with various glowing "tubes" along the neck around.

And unlike the others. It didn't wear a helmet and its bright green eyes bore down at Marcus. It had white face paint, or were they tattoos? He wasn't sure. The skin was rough, almost bone like and it had two mandibles on the side of its face. An elongated head, it almost reminded him of a tougher looking Kig-Yar.

It spoke and its voice flanged in a way that made Marcus squint. It gestured to two of the others, they nodded back, attached the weapons to their backs and they both leaned down and grabbed Marcus by the arms, hefting him up to his feet where he hung limply, too tired to stand on his own.

He lifted his head slightly, opened his mouth to mutter. "Bastard…"

The unhelmeted alien stared at him, head cocked slightly to the side and then raised his hand to the side of his head and spoke again, more aggressively. A nod, then he gestured with his two fingered, one thumb hand and the two holding Marcus began to take the ODST away.

The Lieutenant grunted softly. Least they didn't execute him.

**End of Chapter Seven**

**Yup, there it is! The space battle. Piece of cake! Ground battle? Dem Turians go hard or go harder! And it will also help with some character development with Delta-Seven who I'm hoping to turn into a sort of "mini protagonist" team, anyways! Y'all know the drill by now! Have a nice night/day!**

**PS. Also, in roughly three days I will be taking a LOA from FFnet for about a month, or more, depending on IRL issues. So everything will likely be stopping, this story, my witty oneshots, PM and review replies,etc etc. I will attempt to hop on, maybe give some updates. For now, I am unsure! Now, byeee!  
**


	9. Chapter eight

**In Infinitum: First Contact**

**Chapter Eight**

_**Author Note: Now, this chapter was something I cooked up because people wanted to know where the Unggoy, Yanme'e and Hunters (I admit, their species name is the hardest to remember.) So, let me take you readers away from the strifes of war and Instead we pay a visit to Sangheili space… welcome to the day in the life of the small. As for my RL issues, they're resolved. mostly, so now you should see more updates on the weekly/two weekly basis again! THough i've hit some writers block (Too many ideas! Who knew?) Also... Battlefield 4. That should explain some things.  
**_

**Sanghelios, Vadam Keep's Number 3 Spaceport. 09:20 Cycles.  
**Vadam Keep, one of the greatest keeps and most respected in Sanghelios' history and homeland to current Arbiter Thel Vadam. With the breaking of the Covenant decades ago and the Sangheili allying with the Humans the Arbiter had become a sign of change on the planet of warriors. He had pushed for change, fought any who challenged his decision and killed many an assassin who tried for his life. Then, Humanity had offered more aid then it had ever done, humans volunteered to come to Sanghelios, aid them in learning to crew crops and provided them with Security fleets to supplement the Arbiter's own ships.

They provided Huragok to repair and maintain ships, materials… trading posts. Even in the midst of possible civil war Humans had come and did everything they could to aid the weakened Sangheili Empire, and in three years the Arbiter's following had grown more stable as the human's aid secured his hold on Sanghelios.

Now, come forward twenty years and Sanghelios' keeps are now unified more or less under the Arbiter, Thel Vadam, despite his age has yet to be toppled by any assassins. The other keeps who oppose the Arbiter quickly feel under his wing for fear of his many allies moving in and destroying them in his stead. As had been the fates of three other keeps who had tried to resist the Arbiter's camp.

Neither lasted the last decade when they had been destroyed and the survivors executed for the shame of surrendering while their keep burned around them. The three Kaidon's had been clear messages to the others who would oppose Thel.

You join Vadam, or your blood be spilled while your keep burns.

It wasn't the perfect regime by Human standards, many humans attempted to "correct" the political process in the opening years. But Thel had explained to them that it is just the way of Sangheili to rule this way. As regrettable the loss of life was, it was necessary for the Arbiter to unify his people.

And after three years of working on one of three of Vadam's spaceports, Michelle had seen enough about Sangheili that below the tough martial exterior and brutal devotion to honor lay the beating heart, or hearts, of true warriors.

She sighed softly, leaning back against some crates while running a rag across her damp forehead as she unzipped her work overalls and let them fall down to her waist, exposing her tanned shoulders and arms to the slightly chilled air. Her white tank-top drenched in sweat, making it stick to her form.

"Tough work, huh?" A voice squeaked beside her.

She turned her tired smile to her fellow dock worker and friend, Kapyap was an Unggoy, and like all Unggoy he was short, stubby armed and preferred to be paid in food rations rather than money, since Unggoy were a client race of the Sangheili. Meaning in exchange for work labor and military numbers the Unggoy were offered less restrictions on breeding rights and more rations to be shipped off to their homeworld and five colonies.

The colonies and Unggoy in general didn't have a government but it was generally the way of the Unggoy to join up with Human or Sangheili Operations, mostly as workers for docks or even large malls. Vadam itself employed over two thousand Unggoy in its Military while another three hundred or so in its three spaceports.

Michelle, and the Sangheili, had all been surprised when Humanity, after some years of study with their Sangheili friends, had discovered that for their general size and rather dim wittedness, Unggoy were very adaptable. They could be trained to know a number of dialects, to run certain computing systems and with even more advanced courses repair and maintain weaponry.

That was why Michelle was here, she had come to Sanghelios seven years prior as a volunteer to aid Sangheili doctors in more modern medicinal techniques, even with the stigma against doctors that was still around even today, she had taken medical courses in Sangheili physiology and after four years of aiding three keeps doctors she decided it was time for a change.

She could have left the planet, gone back to UNSC space and become a doctor there, or gone to one of the mixed colonies to be one there. But something about Sanghelios kept her there, she decided for a simple, well rewarded job. A dock worker inside Vadam.

Michelle's first day on the job had been… stressing, for her. She thought she would be treated as an outcast, or some sort of odd burden as one of only two humans in Vadam's spaceports, the other two humans working in the port across the keep.

That was until she met Kapyap, who had approached her and asked if she was, in his words, "The noob", when she responded with it was her first day, he had nodded, told her to follow him and he would give her the "rundown on whole operation". She remembered trying not to laugh as he waddled along pointing things out to her and how to handle certain machinery.

Now, she had muscles where she never used to, she always felt… fulfilled after a hard days work and she never thought having Unggoy friends would be so entertaining.

"Yeah," Michelle replied, running a hand through her short blonde hair. Her hair had been longer before, but with the heat of the Vadam Keep she kept it short now. "it's a real scorcher out there today."

"Yup!" Kapyap agreed. "Sun always brutal, but today is just… merciless!" he was wearing the standard Unggoy blue worker harness. Its methane tank in the back and his mask on. His arms and legs were exposed. It looked almost like armor, only she knew it wasn't meant for combat and was mostly just fabrics. "You looking forward to weekend?"

Michel nodded, pulling a bottle of water from her rear pocket and taking a deep drink, it was piss warm, but still tasted like the best thing she'd drink all day. "Yeah, thinking maybe I'll travel to Shanxi, I hear its beautiful out there."

"The new colony?" she nodded, Kapyap nodded as well. "I hear same thing, I have cousin who works out there on one of the docks, says temperature is just right for workers like us. Thinking I should get transferred there when I find good time."

"Transferred?" Michelle pouted a bit. "But who will keep me company on breaks?"

"Japjap? Pipp? Kayap?" the Unggoy listed off his fingers. "You have many friends! Besides, me will keep in contact!"

"You better," she grinned and they both broke into a small fit of laughter. After a few moments, the pair decided it was time to get back to work before the next shipping freighter came down and dropped off a whole new load for them to lug around into place. Michelle zipped up her overalls and Kapyap waved before waddling off to his duties inside. She worked outside in the external docks unloading the freighters in the blaring sun. She complained, but it was good work.

Most things coming in from the colonies were often food, fabrics and the occasional shipment of weapons. Those were accompanied by security personnel, and since there wasn't a five by five line up of military geared Sangheili out on the docks today, she guessed there wouldn't be.

She did spot a pair of familiar faces however loading up a few larger crates onto a hoverbed. She walked over as the lean and tall Sangheili lifted a third crate, moved it over and set it atop the bottom two crates. From the markings, they were food rations.

"You need help?" she asked, cocking a brow at them since they didn't seem to notice her approach.

The shorter of the pair lifted his own shoulders and looked up to her. His mandibles twitched in the fashion of a nervous grin while the second merely regarded her with the same level stare he always seemed to have when she was near.

They were Vter and Brus of the Mantekr keep, an ally of Vadam.

They were brothers, with Brus being the oldest by two years and always calm. Vter was more excitable, well, by Sangheili standards. Most Sangheili preferred military service, but the brothers had apparently decided to be dock workers before they would enlist in the military of their home keep.

"We are fine here, Michelle." Vter replied while standing and turning to Brus. "Is this it?" he asked.

"Yes," Brus nodded. "Take this load inside to the Unggoy, I will prepare the next." He gestured him off.

"Yes, brother." With a bow of his head, Vter took the handle of the loaded hover bed and turned, then dragged it off to the loaded bays ad storage where the Unggoy would unload it, then pack it away until the transporters arrived.

When he was out of earshot Michelle raised a brow and asked, "He still… y'know?"

"Infatuated with you?" Brus sighed and hung his head slightly with a sag of his shoulders. "Yes, it is lessening. Thankfully he outgrows this young delusion before I outgrow my patience." he muttered, looking at her now. "It would probably be best if you just outright say you are not interested in such affairs. It would make the process quicker."

"You're the big brother," Michelle grinned. "Its your job to be annoyed by the younger." she stated.

"Besides, he'll outgrow it, he's just fascinated by humans in general, give it a month or two," she shrugged. Vter had been showing an odd amount of interest in Michelle, since she was the only human on the docks where the brothers worked, at first it just seemed general curiosity. Then one day Brus had pulled her aside and informed her his brother had been… explaining things to him that he found her… fascinating.

They had both concluded the younger Sangheili had developed a small crush of interest. So, they agreed to stay out of each others way as much as possible, but often times Michelle just enjoyed approaching the pair to gauge Vter's reactions.

She never could have guessed Sangheili could be capable of so many nervous expressions.

"You humans…" Brus shook his head, walking over to a crate. He glanced over at her, "Help me. If we are going to talk, we may as well get some work done as well."

"Right." Michelle walked over, took the opposite end of the crate and with a grunt and groan of strain she lifted the crate when he did. The crates were heavy and often times lowered down from the freighters. Sometimes they wee mixed up, rations with fabrics, and such, so they had to sort them into piles for the sake of convenience.

That and it kept them busy on slow days.

* * *

**January 13, 2582. Military Calendar.  
UNSC Command Station **_**Atlas**_**, Sol System, Earth. 1800 Hours.  
**The clashing of metal sounded out around the large apartment like room as Terrance observed his young protégé deflect another blow from a sharp thrust of his opponent with a flick of his wrist. The two took two steps back and with a flick of their blades the pair bowed their heads and the opponent walked over to a corner where a series of water bottles and towels were set.

Leonardo walked over to the table where Hood sat and removed the protective headgear that came with the Fleet Admiral's hobby of "Fencing", a dying art that had almost faded near the twenty-three hundreds but was carried on in some of the more remote colonies as a tournament sport.

Terrance watched as the young male wiped the sweat from his brow and inspected the blade for any noteworthy wear, finding none the man sheathed it and set it down, leaning it against the table as he downed a fair amount of water with a sigh.

He took a seat and faced Hood. "What news of the Operation?" he asked finally.

"The _Daedalus_ reports that orbital control has been established, civilian ships are being allowed to leave the planet and the fleet has secured a perimeter in orbit." Hood explained easily as he pulled a flask from his dress uniform and downed a shot of good ol' Earth brewed whiskey. An appreciative sigh later he slid it back beneath his uniform. "The news groundside is different, the enemy is fighting hard and they've dug in deep. Long range coms to the ground teams are down as well so the reports we're getting are mostly Pelicans going down to resupply the troops."

Leonardo appeared thoughtful as he listened to his old mentor speak. His fingers steepled in front of his face as he watched some distant point out of sight. When Hood finished the man nodded. "As I expected," he said. "The enemy who fought us is decisive, smart and quick… this is good. That means the predictions I make for them may be quite accurate."

Hood raised a brow. "Predictions?"

Leonardo nodded. "Yes. From the combat footage, I saw our enemies' spirits… if you will," he gave a brief smile. "I saw they were resolute, they were determined and ferocious. It showed in their moves, they struck quickly, making the first move by damaging two ships and then finishing off the weakened vessels while maintaining their distance from the more powerful Destroyer." the Fleet Admiral explained to his old mentor. "And it showed as the battle went on. They were a Rapier and struck with precise attacks, weakening, crippling then finishing."

Hood listened to his young protégé explain what he had seen in the enemy that had attacked their small fleet. It always amazed Hood how Leonardo had a way with explaining things off as a battle of blades. This mentality had existed even before the Fleet Admiral had taken up the hobby of fencing seven years ago. But it got the point across that the Admiral possesses wisdom beyond his years.

Terrance had picked the right man to succeed him.

"I imagine that in the long run, they could very well have severely damaged the _Far Away_," Leonardo went on, leaning back in his chair and giving a once over of his nicely furbished apartment aboard the _Atlas_ station. "Not win, but the fact one our more powerful ships could have been damaged alone is enough for me to ask myself questions about our new friends."

"Like what?"

"If they are rapiers," Leonardo said simply, downing some more water. "Who swings their blade? The Commander who lead the enemy formation? Or the higher ranking official above him? Perhaps higher?"

Hood frowned, his apprentice could however sometimes be melodramatic. "What are you getting at?"

"I'm saying, the galaxy is a big place…" Leonardo spread his arms as if gesturing around the room. "This proves to us that the Forerunner archives are not all knowing, they did not document every species in this vast galaxy, they couldn't have and yet we have said they did and walked out into the darkness without a care." the Fleet Admiral's face grew more grim, determined. "In short. I think its time we started revving up our war machine factories, produce more ships, increase research into Forerunner structures."

Hood blinked in surprise, knowing what the last suggestion implied. "You want to use the Janus keys?" he asked.

"Indeed," Leonardo nodded. "The unchecked caches of Forerunner technology we've left in space since we didn't need them. I think recent events prove we'll need more of an edge to ensure our safety and the safety of those in our care."

"We still don't know enough about the more distant Forerunner constructs, we've already got research stations across the remaining halo rings, we've salvaged what was left of the Arc…" Hood paused, then frowned and sighed. "You want the _Capital_, is that right?"

Leonardo smiled confident. "Indeed I do, The Janus Keys showed the UNSC every piece of Forerunner technology, the Grand Achives, the Halo arrays… the many temples and cities scattered across the stars. But the keys did not show us the true prize." he sighed softly. "The Forerunner Capital… all we have are references, but no coordinates. No solid data to indicate where it is, or was." he stood and turned to the viewing window of his room staring down at the Earth. "Our cradle is beautiful, Hood… but if we are to mature and uphold our new place in this galaxy. We must leave it. Not hover around it as if it were our security blanket."

Terrance sighed, this topic had come up multiple times between them. Leonardo was almost obsessed with finding the Forerunner structure known only as "The Capital", the center of the Forerunner government. Records in the Grand Archives and Absolute Record and various other Forerunner locations all referenced the Capital… but none gave any real direction of where to find it. The portals are said to lead there but with all the teleportation devices across the Forerunner space it was too dangerous to just send people inside them and prey they came out inside the intended location and not just in the middle of deep space because the destination in question was destroyed during the Flood-Forerunner war.

But he could also understand the reason for his protégé's fascination. Like many humans he was fascinated by the Forerunners, their culture, their history and technology. The Capital would house all this information for them to find and Leonardo had become quite sure that with some careful planning they could find it and learn all there was to know about those who had chosen Humanity for this great task.

Hood was neutral about the whole thing, naturally. He saw the benefits of finding it, but also the risks. Some records indicated that the Flood had captured the Capital and even after the firing of the Halo arrays there may be flood presence inside the supposedly massive structure that was the Capital. Hell, there were flood in captivity inside the Halo Rings who were being studied. The UNSC had put the flood to the burner and all efforts were made to ensure they were all destroyed.

That had become standard procedure over the last twenty-five years. Forerunner structures would be thoroughly scanned from orbit, then ground teams, often Spartans loaded for anti-flood warfare. Were sent down to secure the structures more thoroughly, any flood presence detected inside the structure from the Spartan teams would be engaged. Normally they were just frozen specimens kept in stasis.

Other times they were loose, somehow they had gotten out and once Hood had seen his own orders to have a planet glass from orbit to eliminate the infestation. That time they had brought in Sangheili and Kig-Yar fleets to aid in the planetary glassing. The irony of this wasn't lost on many old hands. But the threat of the Flood superseded any old grudges.

The planet had long since been abandoned… and would remain that way for the next hundred years. The system itself would remain in a "quarantine" lead by the Sangheili since the system in question was closer to them then it was to the UNSC. The Arbiter had taken this duty seriously since now two hundred ships patrolled the system on alert for any sort of flood infection.

Though Hood doubted they would have to glass any of the other planets in the system, the Sangheili had done so anyways. The whole system was to this day still a bunch of planets reduced to wastelands. They still had an eighty year wait period before terraforming operations could begin.

"Maybe…" Hood said, "The Janus keys don't show us the Capital because it has been destroyed?"

"Perhaps…" Leonardo relented, turning back to his old mentor and sitting down again with a sudden tired sigh. "Only time will tell."

"But first, we must get a hold of where we stand with this new species." Hood urged, waving his hand dismissively. "You think this show of force will work how you think?"

"Of course," Leonardo replied, energy returned to his posture as he picked up the sheathed Rapier and drew the blade, observing the glinting edge. "It will show them we are not to be trifled with, that we are more than able to take one of their worlds." he paused, "And when we offer them peace. They will understand that we are not brutes. This show of strength must establish we are capable, but understanding. If not, we appear weak and unintelligent."

He sheathed the sword, attached it to his side and lifted his headgear, nodding to his trainer. "And that…" he slid the headgear on and his voice came back slightly muffled. "Is the last thing humanity needs now."

"Naturally," Hood agreed softly. "But, what are you intending to do about Commander Nero of the _Unseen Dagger_? That nuke wasn't part of the plan." he asked now.

"Oh, I have a few ideas," Leonardo replied, he turned to face his now standing opponent. "I'll probably just have him demoted and reassigned to some patrolling Frigate…" he said dismissively. Truly, Leonardo was a bit more bothered by this then he let on, he didn't like it when orders weren't followed but it was his own fault. He should have done a proper check on the Prowler Commander Nero, which Petrov had done after receiving the report from Lilith.

The Fleet Admiral and his fencing teacher got back to their sparring and Hood stared off into the planet below in a thoughtful silence while the clashing and flashing of metal echoed in the room.

**End of chapter Eight**

**A little more insight into Leonardo's character and thoughts, as I am planning to have him play a large role in the events to come. Thanks to all those who have shown their support and criticisms! You all know the drill, have a nice day/night!**


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